Metro drivers threaten to cease work

KOLKATA: Metro Railway services in the city might as well be affected from early September, if the authorities do not take immediate steps for repairing the defective coaches still being used in the network.
The Metro drivers have already threatened to stop working after September 2 if the authorities fail to take corrective measures.
The move comes a day after doors of a particular coach opened twice during two separate trips while the trains were in the tunnel approaching Shyambazar station.
“The faulty functioning of the authorities have led to several cases in recent times where the safety of the passengers have been compromised. The two incidents which happened on Thursday, would have led to a disaster if it took place during peak office hours. What is most striking in this case is, though the passengers officially lodged a compalint with the station authorities at Dum Dum station and the guard and driver informed the Central Control about the malfunctioning of the coach, the authorities after doing an superficial check-up deliberately pushed the same train for commercial run�.
“When the trouble again happened, the passengers were asked to vacate the train at Shayambazar station and it was sent to the carshed and the on-duty drivers and guards had to accept the abuses and threatenings of the passengers for no fault of their own. This is simple not aceptable,� said Dilip Mukherjee, secretary of the Left Front dominated Metro Men’s Union.
“Earlier also we had raised the issues during several other meetings with the authorities and they had assured us that every possible step would be taken to monitor maintanence of the trains. But, after Thursday’s incident it is clear that they were fake assurances. In this scenario, we feel that the drivers and the guards run a daily risk of being physically assaulted.�