Station Masters calls for a nationwide hunger strike

On Aug 2, 2018

NP NEWS NETWORK

Pune

The station masters nationwide have declared to go on a hunger strike as many as 35,000 station master from around the country is going to participate in the hunger strike.

This strike was declared by the All Indian Station Master Association (AISMA) on August 11.

The association’s secretary S. A. Inamdar said that this hunger strike is to protest against the administration and grab their attention to the demands.[amazon_link asins=’B07CVY44PL,B07DQHSRFX,B00ET0TJBI,B01AT0RK7Q,B07CWXCMKP,B00LUBR1KA,B00PUW0IPA’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’policenama100-21′ marketplace=’IN’ link_id=’1d8efc98-9620-11e8-a995-c9e78c18a639′][amazon_link asins=” template=’ProductCarousel’ store=” marketplace=” link_id=’20b5435b-9620-11e8-9327-178dbb3efba2′]

The association is hoping to carry out the strike without any hindrance. The association claims that Station Master is one the most important person associated with Indian Railways and is considered as its ‘Brand Ambassador.’ It is a link between railway transport and all the departmental workers. The station master cadre is the most important post but has always been neglected by the administration even the demands are being ignored.

Their demands –

Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme (MACPS) should provide Growth by Grade (Grade Pay 5400) to station masters.
Many of the station masters work for 12 hrs per day, these kinds of inhuman norms should be canceled as there is a risk of affecting the functioning of the whole train.
Accommodation should be provided to all the station master who does not have the means to go home.
Only senior and experienced station master should be appointed at the post ofThe Station Director
Since there is a lot of criticism of the new pension policy, it should be canceled out immediately and a new pension policy should be regulated.
The station master faces a lot of stress full and troublesome situation, they should be an incentive/bonus consideration the stress or troubles.
The government should hire assistant station masters for the routes where there is a lot of frequency of trains.
There are many people headed by the station master and therefore they should be paid more than all the juniors.
Many times there is are no hospitals or school nearby the station. In this kind of cases, the station master’s family should be accommodated in the nearby town.

Apart from these demands the association also urges the government should receive official recognition. With the nation and state witnessing all kinds of protest, mostly violence ones. Hope that this won’t turn into a wildfire.