FCI employees protest against retrenchment, denial of benefits

New Delhi, Sep 6 (UNI) A large number of employees of Food Corporation of India (FCI), a public sector body, staged a sit-in in front of the FCI head-office here today opposing what they called ''slow winding up'' of the nodal grain-procuring agency, retrenchment of their colleagues and denial of other benefits on the recommendation of an American consultancy firm, Mckinsey.

At the protest organised by the FCI Executive Staff Union, its general secretary Vinod Kumar Sharma alleged that the field staff was being hounded up by the authorities by digging out 15-25 year old cases that, too, at the time of their retirement.

Besides, unscientific methods are being adopted by the FCI manangment to assess the weight-loss in the procured wheat and rice thereby forcing the employees to pay heavy penalties and even face dismissals, Mr Sharma added.

Slogan-shouting protesters, carrying banners and placards also accused the management of violating the agreement it entered with the Union and had systematically reduced the total strength of employees from 60,000-65,000 to merely 32,000 now. Even the authorities are not ready to dump the Mckinsey report which offered one and only one remedy for FCI's revamping---- cut down the number of employees by 20-30 per cent, the Union leader said.

Other demands aired at the dharna included promoting of class three and four employees, who have completed 12 years, ordering of CBI inquiry against FCI's former general manager (Punjab/Hayrana) for his alleged corrupt activities and filing the backloog of SC/ST posts and reintroducing the appointment in FCI on compassionate grounds.

The main grouse of the employees was that the government was effecting privatisation of the foodgrain collection and distribuion which hitherto had been the domain of the FCI.

UNI JSS/BBS VD MIR RN1738