SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Sept 20: Railways employees of Dhanbad Rail Division today paid rich tributes to the staff who lost their lives in the 1968 All-India one-day railway strike.
East Central Railway Karmchari Union (ECRKU) branch-2 organized ‘Martyrs Day’ at its Hill Colony-based union office where employees of the rail division recalled the contribution of the staff who lost their lives in the agitation.
ECRKU branch-2 spokesperson NK Khawas said that ‘Martyrs Day’ was observed today (September 20) on the directive of the East Central Railway Karmchari Union central committee president DK Pandey and general secretary SNP Srivastava to commemorate the staff who sacrificed their lives for genuine demands of the employees.
NK Khawas said several railway staff were killed in firing and lathi-charge during the nationwide strike of Railway employees on September 19, 1968. The railway union had called a one-day strike when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi rejected their demands of wage revision and dearness allowance.
“Whatever benefits railway employees across the country are getting today are the results of agitation and sacrifice committed by those martyred during the 1968 strike,” said AK Da, a Branch-2 leader.
T K Sahu, NK Khawas, Somen Dutta, Parmeshwar Kumar, SK Mahto, Subodh Kumar, Pradipto Sinha, Islam Ansari, Shambhunath Das, Pramod Kumar and Vishwajit Mukherjee were among senior leaders of ECRKU who paid homage to martyred workers.
