Jul 1-15 2019

The full and final budget of the Government of India for the current year, 2019-20, will be presented on 5th July by the new Finance Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman. An Interim Budget was presented on 31st January by the then acting Finance Minister Piyush Goyal. This has been the general practice whenever Lok Sabha elections are held, that the new government presents the final budget in the month of July.

In a circular issued on June 4th 2019 the Railway Board announced that its five printing presses shall be closed by March 2020. The five printing presses are Byculla/Mumbai (Central Railway), Howrah (Eastern Railway), Shakurbasti/Delhi (Northern Railway) , Royapuram/Chennai (Southern Railway) and Secunderabad (South Central Railway).

In a circular issued by the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Lucknow, Northern Railway on the 30th of May 2019,  all Departments of Lucknow Division have been given a target of surrendering 1% of their fixed/permanent posts in the Group C and Group D categories. Hence out of total strength of 26260 workers in these 2 categories in Lucknow Division, the overall target is to reduce 262 posts in the current financial year, 2019-2020.

The first anniversary of police firing on protestors against the Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin, in which 13 people were killed, scores of others wounded and hundreds arrested was observed on May 22nd. Families of victims of the police firing, protestors who demanded the closure of the plant, and people living in the vicinity of the plant are extremely upset and angry over the continued denial of justice.

Over 400 pilots in the US have joined to file a lawsuit against Boeing, accusing the company of covering up “known design flaws” on the company’s 737 MAX aircraft.

The Central Working Committee of the All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) opposed steps being taken for privatization of Indian Railways, at a meeting held at AILRSA Bhawan, Ghaziabad on June 23, 2019.

In a press note issued on the occasion, the General Secretary of AILRSA, M.N.Prasad exposed the reality of the 11 point action plan, which the Ministry of Railways proposes to implement within 100 days. Its aim is clearly to further unbundle and hand over for privatization various services of the Indian Railways.

On 28th June, three workers who were cleaning the drain 30 feet below ground level for Delhi Jal Board (DJB) in Delhi's Khyala area were drowned when the Jal Board opened the water supply. Rescue teams were called in but one worker died, while the other two are in critical condition. DJB had given the contract to clean the drainages to a private company. It is nothing short of criminal negligence by the authorities that they flooded the drain when workers were cleaning it.

The All-India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) successfully concluded its annual conference at the baraat ghar of the Meerut Railway Station on 24th June 2019, the first anniversary of the establishment of Meerut Branch of the association. Nearly 160 activists participated along with the office-bearers at the branch, mandal, zonal and central executive levels.