Strike illegal, rules Delhi High Court

The airport strike received a shot in the arm today when the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd's employees' union came out in support, even though the Delhi High Court ruled the agitation illegal and wanted it to be discontinued.

The BSNL union staged "protest demonstrations" at all its 500 district headquarters to express solidarity with the striking AAI employees. BSNL union leaders said over 20,000 employees joined the protests, without disrupting telecom services.

"If the government does not reach an understanding with the striking airport employees, we will organise further protests," said VAN Namboodiri, general secretary, BSNL Employees Union.

The BSNL brass said it would not prevent its employees from participating in the protests outside office premises during non-working hours.

The officers of Air-India, Mumbai Port Trust and Maharashtra State Electricity Board, too, came out in support of the strike. Sources familiar with the situation said the striking employees would meet tomorrow to decide the future course of action.

More support could be on its way with senior functionaries of the employees' union of state-owned Indian saying privately that they could join the strike. While Indian's employees' union refused to comment, some of its members said they would stop reporting for work in support of the strike.

On its part, the government assured that the carrier's operations would not be affected in any way. "We have had discussions with the Indian management. It has assured us that operations of the airline will not be affected," said Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad.

The Left parties said they would meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow to take up the issue.

"The government should call the leadership of the workers "" the joint forum of AAI employees "" for talks to resolve the issue," said Communist Party of India General Secretary AB Bardhan.

The Delhi High Court, meanwhile, restrained the agitating employees from holding demonstrations within 500 meters of the main gates of airports and the headquarters of the civil aviation ministry here.

It also asked the employees' unions not to disrupt the functioning of the domestic and international airports or cause any damage to them.