The call for a token strike of Akshaya centres on April 13 by the Association of IT Employees (AITE) affiliated to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) may be the first sign of politicisation of what has come to be accepted as a model for citizen service centres across the country.
Fearing such a scenario, the Akshaya Welfare Association, which claims to have the allegiance of 180 out of the 220-odd Akshaya entrepreneurs in the district, has decided to stay away from the strike though it agrees to the grounds on which AITE has called the strike.
The Akshaya employees will be protesting against the government move to slash the service fee of the centres for registration of the voter identity card from Rs. 25 to Rs. 10.
“We have members with affinity to all political parties. Participating in the strike called by the CITU will lead to other trade unions entering the scene, which will divide us on political lines,” said Akshaya Welfare Association president M.P. Chackochan.
The Association, however, agrees that things have reached a point where Akshaya entrepreneurs are left with no alternative but to agitate to draw attention to their woes. The Association is holding a series of meetings to chalk out a politics-free strike.
Mr. Chackochan said there were clear signs of the government conspiring to sabotage Akshaya centres. The slashing of service charge, he said, was just one of the many issues troubling entrepreneurs.
“Around 70-odd Akshaya centres engaged for Aadhaar enrolment have not been paid their collective dues of over Rs. 10 lakh in the last one year. Since they can hardly afford to continue the service without payment, considering the expense on logistics and staff, all except just over 10 centres have withdrawn from Aadhaar enrolment,” he said.
Denial of ration card revision works, allowing even private agencies to provide IT-related citizen services of the government departments, are being cited as pointers towards a design to undermine Akshaya centres.
“Except for e-district-related services, the government is yet to fulfil the promise on routing IT-related services of government departments through Akshaya centres,” Mr. Chackochan said.
