Commuters can heave a sigh of relief as there will be no disruption of metro services, due to striking Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) employees, on Monday.
After two days of intense deliberations, protesting non-executive staff of the Delhi Metro reached a compromise with the management on Sunday following meetings with DMRC managing director Mangu Singh.
Both sides said that all issues, including a pay hike, were resolved amicably. The demand that the staff be allowed to form unions was, however, turned down, though they were given some relaxation.
The staff had threatened to go on strike on Monday if their demands were not met.
It would have been the first such strike faced by the DMRC.
The non-executive staff, which includes train operators, maintenance staff, station controllers and customer relation assistants, of the DMRC had been protesting for a pay hike since July 21.
After reaching a deal on Sunday, DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal said that metro services would continue as per schedule.
“The ongoing protest by DMRC’s non-executive employees was called off on Sunday after all issues were amicably settled,” he said.
‘Agreement of 2015’
Mr. Dayal said that a high-level meeting on Saturday, chaired by D. S. Mishra, Secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development; and M. M. Kutty, Chief Secretary of the Delhi government, with Mr. Singh, also discussed the demands. The meeting did not yield results.
In regards to the pay hike demands, secretary of staff council Anil Kumar Mahato had said that the Delhi Metro had in 2015 agreed “in-principle” to upgrade the pay scale of maintainers from ₹8,000-₹14,410 to ₹10,170-₹18,700 from July of that year.
He added that it was also agreed that pay scales of ₹13,500-₹25,520 and ₹14,000-₹26,950 would be merged, but this was never delivered.
A new pay scale of ₹20,600-₹46,500 was also to be introduced, after the employees had launched a stir, Mr. Mahato said.
The DMRC management had responded: “Since the recommendations of the Third Pay Commission have been accepted by the government and orders are to be issued any time, it is not an opportune moment to press for demand of revision of pay scales at this juncture. All pay related issues shall be dealt shortly after issue of orders by the government.”
The other demands of the agitating staff included suspension of disciplinary proceedings against three staff members, including Mr. Mahato, and a CBI probe into alleged financial irregularities in the organisation.
