Ready to go to any extent for old pension – Com. Shiva Gopal Mishra

98th Annual Convention of All India Railway Men’s Federation held in Puri

New Delhi: The 98th Annual Convention of All India Railway Men’s Federation (#AIRF) was organized in Puri from 29th & 30th November 2022, in which more than 40 thousand members of AIRF affiliated unions from all over Indian Railways participated and made the convention successful. The convention was organized under the auspices of East Coast Railway Shramik Union, an affiliated union of AIRF.

On November 29, the meeting of the National Women’s working Committee of AIRF was organized at Puri in which thousands of members of the Women’s Working Committee of affiliated unions of AIRF participated. It was presided over by the women chairperson of AIRF, Mrs. Jaya Aggarwal and the national women convenor, Mrs. Praveena Singh.

The National Women’s Working Committee meeting was attended by AIRF’s Women Chairperson Jaya Aggarwal, AIRF’s National Women’s Coordinator Mrs. Praveena Singh, besides AIRF General Secretary Shiva Gopal Mishra, AIRF President Dr. N. Kanhaiya and working President J R Bhosle, Treasurer Shankara Rao, Zonal Secretary Champa Verma and the general secretaries of all the affiliates zones of AIRF. P K Pathsani, General Secretary of East Coast Railway Workers Union, welcomed the women who came in such a large number. Chairman MSSV Rao expressed gratitude to all.

After that, the working committee meeting of All India Railway Men’s Federation was organized, in which further strategies and actions were discussed in detail.

Thereafter, the open session of the convention was started in front of ‘Puri’ railway station with a rally of workers of all zones in large numbers, in which a large number of railway workers participated enthusiastically.

Addressing the open session of the 98th National Annual Convention of AIRF, General Secretary, AIRF Shiva Gopal Mishra said that old pension is not a charity, it is social security for railway employees, the federation will go to any extent to get it back.

Addressing the young railwaymen present in large numbers, he discussed in detail on the old pension. General Secretary Shiva Gopal Mishra said that the restoration of old pension is included in the top most priority of the Federation today. We are trying to bring together central employees, state employees and teachers to protest against the new pension scheme. For this, the central leadership of our Federation has started talks at the local level. AIRF is preparing for a big movement for this.

The General Secretary said that although the Railway Minister had said many times during the meeting that the work which the railway employees are doing efficiently will never be outsourced, we have faith in the Railway Minister, but not on the policy and intention of the govt. He said that the government is plotting privatization in pieces through the back door. AIRF does not accept this at all, privatization of railways is not in anyone’s favour, it will neither benefit the railways, nor is it going to benefit the railwaymen.

After discussing the demands and problems of all the railway employees, the General Secretary said that the our arrears of dearness allowances which were closed during the Corona period have not died, talks are being held in this regard as well! Even if there is an attempt to snatch the arrears, the struggle is certain.

AIRF President Dr N. Kanhaiya reminded the railwaymen that whatever facilities we are enjoying today, it was not easily achieved, for this not only a long struggle had to be done, but during the movement all the railwaymen were also shot in the chest. He said that the government should not only talk about the demands of the railway employees with an open mind, but it should also be fulfilled, because today the employees are not only aware of their rights, but they are ready to pay any cost to get it.

General Manager of East Coast Railway Roop Narayan Sunkar recalled some of his old memories and said that he has worked in many railway divisions, he got full support from the railway employees and the union.

The open session was also addressed by CEO Alka Arora Mishra, Principal Chief Personnel Officer PK Mandal, DRM Rinkesh Rai and few others. In this open session mainly AIRF Working President J R Bhosle, Treasurer Shankarrao, Raja Sridhar, Zonal General Secretary KL Gupta, AM D’Cruz, Mukesh Mathur, Mukesh Galav, Venu P Nair, SNP Srivastava, RD Yadav, Dr. Ashish Vishwas, Amit Ghosh, SK Tyagi, Manoj Behera, LN Pathak, Jaya Aggarwal, Praveena Singh, Champa Verma were present.

General Secretary of East Coast Shramik Union PK Pathasani welcomed all the guests and expressed gratitude to the railway employees from all over the country. The program was concluded by Chairman NVSS Rao.

The next day, on 30 November 2022, a Delegate session of AIRF was organized in the Town Hall in which thousands of representatives of all zones of AIRF participated. The representative session was addressed by Dr. N. Kanhaiya, President of AIRF, General Secretary Shiva Gopal Mishra, besides General Secretaries of all zones.

In the Delegate session, General Secretary Shivs Gopal Mishra made it clear that if the government does not restore the old pension scheme soon and does not accept their demands while solving the problems of the railway employees, then during the next session of the Parliament, a massive demonstration will be held at the national level. Mainly 7 proposals were also passed unanimously in the convention, i.e payment of dearness allowance/dearness relief, restoration of old pension scheme, national monetization policy, conducting secret voting for recognition of trade unions in Railways, Pending demands of railway employees, giving night allowance to all railway employees, and providing their basic facilities to women employees in Indian Railways.