People's Democracy

All the Suspended AI Employees

Will be Reinstated

Praful Patel assures Yechury

THE long pending issue of reinstatement of suspended Air India employees is set to be resolved with union civil aviation minister assuring CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and MP Sitaram Yechury about doing this. Consequent to this assurance, the minister would hold discussions with the representatives of employees unions soon.

It may be recalled that the employees of Air India had gone on strike against the government's proposed plans of privatisation of Air India a few months back. The AI management acted with backing of the minister, terminating and suspending some of the leaders of the agitation from the services. After long drawn negotiations with the minister and AI CMD at various levels, finally today the Minister for Civil Aviation assured Yechury that all suspended employees will be reinstated, and discussions on other matters including the cases of terminated employees will continue.

In a separate case, the AI CMD Aravind Agarwal assured Sitaram Yechury that the workers who have been categorised as surplus empoyees in Centaur Hotel, Srinagar, will not be retrenched. Sitaram Yechury, member of all party parliamentary delegation to Kashmir last month, suggested that the central government has to take steps for employment creation in central government undertakings in Jammu & Kashmir instead of retrenching or resorting to closures. This would act  as a gesture of confidence building measure, he felt.

As is known, both the central and state government have agreed that there is a trust deficit between the people of Jammu & Kashmir and the respective governments. One hopes that this assurance of no retrenchment of workers of Central PSU's in the state, particularly of Centaur hotel, will work as a first gesture in bridging such trust deficit.