Airport employees to continue strike

Discussions among airport employee unions did not bring an end to the four-day old strike with left leaders saying that the agitation would continue.

"The strike will go on. We are ready for a settlement, but it has to be an honourable settlement," AITUC general secretary Gurudas Dasgupta said today announcing that they were meeting civil aviation minister Praful Patel later in the day.

Addressing the striking employees of Airports Authority of India who are protesting the privatisation of Delhi and Mumbai airports, Dasgupta said they would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh again "if necessary".

He also warned that "we are capable of removing Praful Patel today itself."

Besides Dasgupta, other prominent left trade union leaders also addressed the striking workers at the airport.

CITU president M K Pandhe said: "We are not ready for privatisation of the airports. It is against the common minimum programme of the UPA  government."

Sounding a warning to the government, he said, "If we withdraw the support of 61 MPs to the government, it will fall the very next day."

The agitators gathered outside the airport police station and blocked the main approach road to the domestic terminal, leading to traffic diversions.

A scuffle broke out between the striking workers and the police at the airport when they were allegedly prevented from holding demonstrations.

Employees claimed that the police initially allowed them to hold a meeting, but later asked them to disperse saying the gathering was too large. The police, however, maintained that they were only following the high court directions.

Although the agitating employees started gathering at the airport early today, the police kept them off the 500-metre limit around the airport.

Airport Authority of India (AAI) Employees Joint Forum had, earlier today, strongly protested against the alleged police action against agitating employees at the Delhi airport around midnight last night, and claimed that the "assault on democratic rights" would not have been carried out without a nod from the higher-ups.

A strong posse of police personnel swooped down on a group of protesters after mdinight, beat them up and forcibly evicted them from the airport, forum sources said.

"It is highly condemnable that the police acted in the dead of night against the employees who were peacefully continuing the dharna. This attack was carried out after our meeting with the Prime Minister and our own meetings to resolve the issue," Fourm convenor M K Ghoshal said.

"This is a highly provocative step. Such an assault against the democratic rights of the employees could not have been carried out without a nod from some higher-ups," he added.