The railway ministry officials met the leaders of the protesting running staff at the Kamalapur Railway Station to solve the problems that stemmed out from the work abstention in the railway sector.
However, the running staff leaders have left the meeting without any solution.
Railway ministry secretary Md Fahimul Islam and BNP chairperson’s special assistant and Jaitayatabadi Sramik Dal coordinator Shamsur Rahman Shimul Biswas were present in the meeting.
However, the railway running staff leaders left the meeting as they failed to reach any solution.
The meeting started at the VIP lounge of the Kamalapur railway station at 1:30 pm. Running staff representative Saidur Rahman left the meeting at around 2:45 pm.
Later he told the newspersons, “We have discussed with the railway secretary and director general of the railway for a long time. But I left while the meeting was still underway as we couldn’t reach a solution. We will discuss the issue with our central leaders. However, our work abstention is to continue.”
Earlier, the railway secretary said they couldn’t make any contact with the protesters directly. They were contacting the protesters indirectly.
Secretary Fahimul Islam at the time said, “We are open for discussion. If they come, we can discuss with them and resume train services on the basis of the discussion.”
Asked whether they had contacted the finance ministry over the problem, the secretary said, “We have talked to the finance division. They can’t say anything right now. However, there are still opportunities of discussion regarding this. The adviser said he would hold a meeting with the protesters and representatives from the finance division would be present in the meeting.”
The railway running staff have been demanding pension including running allowances and gratuity for a long time. The Running Stuff and Worker Employee Union held a press conference and gave the government an ultimatum to fulfil their demands by 27 January and declared a strike from 28 January if the government does not accept their demand within that stipulated time.
The running staff have been observing a work abstention since 12:00 am Tuesday. They refrained from getting on the scheduled trains. As a result, none of the trains left the starting station snapping the railway network countrywide.
Asked whether any punitive action will be taken against the running staff or not, the railway secretary said, “I cannot say anything in this regard right now. We have told them the door for discussion is always open. I have no idea about what the government or the law enforcement agencies will do. It’s not in our hands, if they (the protesting staff) don’t come. It’s not that the railway ministry always has everything in its control.”
Asked whether the demands raised by the running staff are legitimate or not, the railway secretary said, “We discussed the matter considering their demand as legitimate one. As a result, we at least gained something from the meeting. They have been weighing the movement for the last four years.”