BMRCL holds first round of meeting with staffers

The BMRCL management held the first of the several rounds of meetings with its employees on Monday where the employees submitted a list of demands, including a provision of basic facilities and pay revision.

The meeting comes after the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) and BMRCL Employees Union agreed in the High Court of Karnataka to hold talks for resolving issues.

The employees have deferred by a month an indefinite strike planned from March 22.

A senior official said the employees were getting meagre salary compared to the other metro corporations in the country as most of the perks and allowances were not extended to them.

"They (employees) also raised the issue of lack of canteen facility and the lunch break for those working in stations. They demanded allotment of residential quarters as most of them commute from distant places to reach their workplace," the official said.

Another source said that the employees alleged that the management gave special treatment to the members of emergency response team deployed at the metro stations by spending more than Rs 70,000 to provide lunch and bottled water for a day.

The employees refused to talk about the meeting but said talks will continue to resolve the issues.

Mandatory work

Meanwhile, the BMRCL issued an order on Monday ordering all the assistant line supervisors (ALS) to work as train operators for 10 days in a month. The move is being seen as part of the management's efforts to keep more people ready to operate trains in case of a strike.

The ALS staff supervise train operators and guide them in smooth functioning of the duty. As per the earlier rules, they operated the train for eight hours in a month. However, the new rule mandates them to operate trains at least 10 days.

Interestingly, ALS staff also took part in the protest against the management by wearing black badges, attracting the ire of management.

DH News Service