Delhi HC puts brakes on Metro employees' proposed strike
New Delhi, June 29: A day before an indefinite strike proposed by a section of the Delhi Metro employees that would have led to mayhem for lakhs of commuters, the Delhi High Court on Friday ordered the staff not to do so or "till further orders".
The court order on the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation plea will be a relief for daily commuters who use the public service to commute within Delhi and neighbouring areas in the National Capital Region.
"Considering the fact that the petitioner (DMRC) is running a public utility service that caters to 25 lakh citizens of Delhi on a daily basis, who come largely from middle income group... I am inclined to grant ad-interim relief as sought in the application.
"Accordingly, the respondents (General Secretary of Metro Staff Council and others) are restrained from going on strike on June 30 or till further orders in the matter," read the court order.
Hours before the court order, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the protesting staff to not go on strike and even warned of invoking the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA), if required, to stop the strike.
"Whereas all genuine demands of Metro employees should be met, the strike will cause inconvenience to lakhs of people. The strike should not take place. Whereas government will impose ESMA as a last resort, I urge the employees to not resort to strike," Kejriwal said in a tweet.
The DMRC is engaged in a dispute with its non-executive employees over pay scales and arrears. The 9,000 such employees had warned of a strike from Saturday if their demands were not met.
This workforce consists of station controllers, drivers, technicians, and other maintenance staff and facilitates day-to-day operations of the Metro.
These employees held a symbolic protest from June 19 onwards by holding sit-ins at platforms, wearing black armbands and boycotting lunch and rest hours. They threatened to go on a total strike from June 30.
The bone of contention, the employees said, is a 2007 DMRC rule through which the corporation had come up with two pay scales for executive and non-executive staff, entitling the former to pay grades/scales given to 'Schedule A' public sector units and a lower and different grade for the latter.
As per a compromise struck between the employees and the DMRC on July 23 last year, the corporation was to carry out some modifications in the pay grade and grant the protesting employees their arrears from July 1, 2015. However, the deal fell through subsequently.
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Consumers feeling the heat of rising tender coconut prices in Karnataka
Bengaluru: The cost of tender coconuts has skyrocketed in Karnataka, with retail prices now ranging between Rs 50 and Rs 60 per coconut. In parts of North India, prices have even touched Rs 80 to Rs 100. This price hike is reportedly attributed to a combination of extreme temperatures in Northern India and lower yields in Karnataka, which has been facing its own heatwave.
Maddur, the largest market for tender coconuts in India, has seen average wholesale prices fluctuating between Rs 38 and Rs 50 per coconut over the past three months. Retail prices are higher and depend upon distance from key markets such as Davangere, Tumakuru, Mandya, Hassan, and others as reported by Deccan Herald on Saturday.
During June and July of this year, tender coconuts were available for around Rs 35 in Karnataka, the country's leading coconut producer. However, prices have spiked due to a variety of factors. According to the state government's online agriculture marketing information website, Krishi Marata Vahini, wholesale prices have risen by at least Rs 10,000 per 1,000 coconuts compared to last year.
V. Rajannab, Deputy Director of the Tumakuru APMC Yard, attributed the supply disruption to the "heatwave conditions of the summer of 2024," explaining that farmers could harvest only 30% to 40% of their expected yield. He told the news outlet that the increased demand from North Indian states has further driven up prices in the local market. Nearly 60% of Karnataka's tender coconuts are shipped to North India, with states like Jammu and Kashmir and Gujarat now seeking supplies, he added.
Officials from the horticulture department have suggested that the high price of ball copra could also have impacted the supply of tender coconut. “The price of ball copra has more than doubled in the last three months, going from Rs 8,000 to Rs 18,000 a tonne. There is a general feeling that the price could go further high, which is why most of the farmers are not harvesting tender coconuts,” Horticulture Deputy Director Kadiregowda was quoted as saying by DH.
However, there is some hope for price relief in the near future. With copious rains this monsoon, the yield is anticipated to improve, which could further help stabilise the market and bring prices down in the coming weeks.
