Honorable Chief Minister/Lt. Governor
Delhi Government
Subject: Regarding Wrongful Registration of FIR against DTC and Cluster Workers who served Public during Corona Pandemic
Respected Sir,
IT should be noted that the matter of an FIR registered against many Delhi Transport Corporation and cluster workers has come to light, which is a matter of extremely grave concern. Regarding DTC: an FIR has been registered by the police (who come under the Home Minister in the Government of India) against government workers who drove government buses belonging to a government transport corporation following orders from the government! Is there no longer anything called justice and order in Delhi? The DTC workers to whom the government failed to give the right to equality, dignified wages, job security etc are now being slapped with a baseless FIR. Are the Delhi Police Chief, Home Minister of India, Lt. Governor, Chief Minister, Transport Minister, and Labor Minister of Delhi happy to unleash this oppression on workers even during such difficult times? Registering an FIR against the workers for following government departmental orders and risking their lives during this Corona pandemic to keep Delhi working shows the total failure of the government.
The DTC workers who are coming for duty have not been provided by the DTC management or the Delhi government with gloves, masks, sanitizers and other necessary articles. The plying of DTC buses cannot be carried on without permission from the government and the management. Therefore if at all an FIR was needed to be registered, it should have been against the DTC Managing Director/Chairman/Transport Minister or Head of Government, not against any worker. This holds true in the case of cluster workers also. The police officials/government officials/Ministers at whose behest the FIRs has been registered should be investigated and removed immediately, and all necessary steps should be taken to withdraw the FIR. The Central and State governments are already facing serious questions regarding the incredible distress caused to workers during these times of Corona and Lockdown. In these circumstances, the government should not try to hide their own failures by slapping baseless FIRs on workers. The unplanned and thoughtless sudden lockdown-- along with exploitation by owners and inequality rampant in society-- is the reason for so many workers gathering together in Delhi. This problem has been generated by the government; workers are the victims of all these government failures.
We demand that such police action should be immediately stopped and the FIR should be withdrawn by taking all necessary steps. The Union wishes to say in the clearest possible terms that after this episode it is useless to expect you to do anything right. DTC workers are capable of giving a fitting reply to every atrocity.
- Santosh Kumar Rai
President, DTC Workers Unity Centre (affiliated to AICCTU)
