Trade unions call for nationwide strike on Jan 8
Dhanbad (Jharkhand), Dec 26: A front of national trade unions on Thursday called for a countrywide strike on January 8 in protest against "anti-labour" and "anti-industry" policies of the BJP-led central government, a trade union leader said.
A K Jha, general secretary of the Rashtriya Colliery Mazdoor Sangh (RCMS), a constituent unit of the INTUC, said the decision was taken at a meeting of recognised central trade unions here.
Representatives of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), All India Congress Trade Union Cong (AITUC), Central Industrial Trade Union (CITU) and Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) took part in the meeting, he said.
"The central government is reducing the basic rights and facilities of workers and privatising public sector units for the capitalists. Trade unions are left no other option but to call for a strike," Jha said.
Over four lakh miners working in different coal mines across Jharkhand would take part in the strike," he said.
Jha said labour laws were being bent in favour of industrialists and demands of workers were being ignored.
Another meeting of the trade union leaders has been scheduled on December 30 for making the nationwide strike a success, he added.
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Five railway staffers injured as van headed to Rajdhani Express fire site overturns in MP
Ratlam (MP) (PTI): Five railway staffers were injured, one of them critically, when their van carrying repair equipment to the site of a Rajdhani Express fire overturned in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam district on Sunday, officials said.
The blaze erupted in an AC coach of the Delhi-bound Thiruvananthapuram-Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express between Vikramgarh Alot and Lunirichha stations under the Kota division of the railways in Ratlam at 5.15 am.
It disrupted the movement of several trains on the Mumbai-Delhi route, as per the officials.
A van carrying necessary equipment to Alot overturned on the way when a cow suddenly strayed into the middle of the road, they said.
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Five railwaymen were injured, one of them critically, the officials said.
The incident took place when the van carrying essential equipment for overhead electric line repair, among other things, was on its way to Alot from Shyamnagar in Ratlam, West Central Railway's chief public relations officer Harshit Shrivastava told PTI.
The injured persons were rushed to the hospital and were subsequently referred to Kota in Rajasthan, officials said.
No casualties were reported in the train fire.
