Tough action against Travelling Ticket Examiners for flash stir

Kochi: The Southern Railway  has acted tough against Travelling Ticket Examiners of the Thiruvananthapuram division for indulging in a flash strike post the  manhandling of  a TTE in Kannur recently  and served chargesheets against 48 of them.

Four of the TTEs were issued major penalty charge memo (SF5) under which they can even be fired from service if the authorities find their explanation not satisfactory.

Several trains had gone without TTEs and the functioning of information counters at main stations like Thiruvananthapuram Central, among others,  was  disrupted  after the TTEs went on strike on February 5.

This was  after a TTE from Thiruvananthapuram division, V. Jayakumar,  was allegedly manhandled by the supervisor at the rest room of the running staff at the Kannur station. “A committee which inquired into the incident found the act of the TTEs caused difficulty to commuters Punishment transfers and higher penal action would be taken after going through their explanations,” a senior officer said.

Meanwhile, the TTEs have threatened to launch a strike from Monday if the penal action is not revoked. “We don’t want to put the public into difficulty. The union held talks at the DRM-level on Thursday wherein the authorities  promised to reconsider the action,” said Mr P. Unnikrishnan, SRMU Thiruvananthapuram divisional president.

The development comes even as the  majority of railway employees have voted in favour of an indefinite strike  from April 11 if the centre fails to reach a negotiated settlement on their 11-point charter of demands.