HMRL staff continue protest on second day

Hyderabad: A section of the ticketing employees of Hyderabad Metro Rail have boycotted their duties for a second consecutive day on Wednesday. Demanding an increase in salaries, 150 employees working at metro stations on the Red Line (Miyapur-L.B.Nagar) stayed away from work.

They plan to stage a sit-in at Hyderabad Metro rail Limited (HMRL) office at Nagole later in the day.

The strike by employees, who work as Ticketing and Cash Management Officers (TCMOs), led to a disruption in offline ticketing services.

The striking employees had staged a protest at busy Ameerpet station at the Red Line and Blue Line intersection on Tuesday. The offline ticketing services remained unaffected on Wednesday.

The contract employees draw around Rs 11,000 and allegedly have not been given a pay hike for the past five years now. They demanded that their salaries be hiked to at least Rs 15,000.

The striking employees were also demanding free travel facility by metro for employees working night shifts, and at least 20 designated leaves apart from regular weekly off days.

Representatives of contracting agency Mavin Tuesday held talks with the employees. They called the employees for another round of talks. The staff, however, made it clear that they will return to work only after their demands are met.

They pointed out that ticketing employees working on the blue line contracted through a different agency are paid about Rs 15,000 per month.

The ticketing staff is also unhappy over not receiving any benefits from the contracting agency or HMRL. The employees have no facility of free travel by metro and they are penalised if caught travelling without a ticket, beyond the usual fine of Rs 110 collected from regular passengers for ticketless travel.

The ticketing employees said they were facing difficulties as relievers were not attending duties on time and the officials concerned were not responding. They also claimed that they were not even being given time for lunch.

HMRL officials said a few ticketing staff under a contracting agency have connived and abstained from work today with a purpose to disrupt train operations, causing passenger inconvenience.

"They are also spreading rumours and misinformation out of vested interest. Their claims are false and their actions are highly against the public interest, which will call for stern action by the HMR management," the HMR management said in a statement. The management claims that it is ensuring due facilities and benefits to staff.