Hyderabad: With the state having witnessed several strikes and agitation by government service employees in the last few years, the inefficacy of Essential Service Maintenance Act to ensure essential services to the public has been exposed repeatedly .
This question on the efficacy of Esma once again came to fore with state electricity department going on strike. Esma bans strikes by employees working in public departments that provide essential services like health, transport, power and others.
Esma gives the government the authority to sack striking employees and cut their salary. Such a decision cannot be challenged in court.
There are no records where the Andhra Pradesh government has toughened its stand and successfully prevented inconvenience to the public.
The AP Esma Act was enacted in 1971 and first invoked in 1983 when NTR was the chief minister. In August 2013, the junior doctors in the government hospital went on strike against the mandatory rural services, and as a result, paralysed health care services for 19 days. Following failure of talks, the strike continued despite Esma being in effect.
During the Makala Jamila Samme (general strike), thousands of employees of Singareni Collieries went on strike for 35 days causing a Rs 300-crore per day loss to the state exchequer, but the officials did not impose Esma.
“We could have used the Act to quell the stir but, technically, it results in aggression and dangerous consequences. It can be used for a small group of people, but cannot be used on employees across the company,” said a senior official of Singareni Collieries.
Invoking the Act could not prevent the collapse of healthcare infrastructure leaving patients to suffer in the state.
Same is the case in the AP State Road Transport Corporation ; Employees actually led the general strike demanding statehood for Telangana. This caused a huge inconvenience because 60 per cent of the state’s public was dependent on public transport. But the management did not dare to impose the Esma.
“Esma is more of a political decision. Even though the services were badly hit causing great inconvenience, the management could not impose the Act as it would only worsen the situation in the state. The strike was also linked to regional sentiments,” said a senior official of APSRTC.
