The Hindu : Postal strike called off

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 05, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Postal strike called off

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 4. The State-wide strike launched by postal employees today was withdrawn this evening, following a series of talks in which the contentious issues were sorted out.

At the conciliatory meeting convened by the Chief Post Master-General (CPMG), Kerala Circle, K. N. K. Karthiyayani, it was agreed that normality would be restored in the Department of Posts in the next 24 hours.

Talking to mediapersons at the end of the meeting, the CPMG said efforts were being launched on a war-footing to clear the backlog of mails, especially in the northern districts of the State where the strike had begun on January 21.

The Railway Mail Service has been asked to start clearing operations with immediate effect. All the 5,081 post offices in the State would resume normal functioning tomorrow morning, she added.

According to the CPMG, the unions seemed to have been misled.

"Such decisions (`privatising' postal services in the State) are not taken at the Circle level. Only the Union Cabinet can decide on such policy matters. The misunderstandings have now been cleared and I hope the message will be conveyed to the nearly 27,000 employees of the department in Kerala," she remarked.

What triggered the strike was the appointment of collection agents for Speed Post articles in Kozhikode district. The union leaders, M. Krishnan, State Convener of the NFPE, S. Nagajyothi of the BPEF and O. K. Divakaran, of the FNPO, later told reporters that it would be the endeavour of the unions to restore normality in the department without any further delay and the backlog cleared in the next 24 hours.

Lensman roughed up

Our Special Correspondent writes from Kochi:

Officials in the general post office here roughed up and detained K.K. Mustafah, principal news photographer of The Hindu Business Line, while he was trying to photograph the empty Speed Post office in Kochi on Wednesday.

Mr. Mustafah said he was taken into the Speed Post office by a couple of employees' union activists. Even before he had taken his camera out, Mr. Mustafah alleged, the manager of the Speed Post office rushed to him and started hurling abuses at him. ``The officer did not give me a chance to explain that I am a news photographer ,'' he said. Soon a number of news photographers and reporters rushed in and pressured the Postal staff to release the detained lensman. As things started getting out of control, the Postal staff opened the doors and let the lensman go. The police initiated a round of negotiations with senior Postal officials and finally resolved the issue with the manager apologising to Mr. Mustafah.

Director's version

Shibu M. Job, director of Postal Services, Central Kerala region, told The Hindu that Mr. Mustafah had not identified himself as a news photographer. ``Had he identified himself, the manager would have perhaps let him take pictures or at least contacted me to take my permission." He said there was an altercation between the photographer and the manager.

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