RPO employees go on flash strike in Bangalore

The one-day stir triggered off protests from public who had queued up before the Regional Passport Office at Koramangala and the Passport Service Centre located near Lal Bagh in the city.

The RPO employees had a tough time explaining the reasons for their strike to people who had gathered in front of their offices since early morning. The strikers were protesting against the govt-private partnership at RPOs which the employees claimed had "jeopardised their job security".

"We want the RPOs to have a centralised software by the National Informatics Centre as it was earlier rather than outsourcing it to a private firm," Lokesh, Secretary of the Bangalore Unit of the All India Passport Employees Association, said.

In October 2008, a leading IT firm was given the Rs 1,000 crore contract for implementing the 'e-passport' project that aims, besides providing other services, to issue passports in three days under Tatkal service. "Our other demands include time-bound promotions, minimum two years foreign deputation for our officers and re-establishing the counters manned by our employees in the RPOs, which have been totally removed. Although it is the private firm which has supplied the software, the main work is done by our officers who have been given a backseat now", he said.

The employees also demanded salaries on a par with those employed by the Ministry of External Affairs.