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Rahul meets loco drivers working 16-hour shifts
July 17, 2024

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP, Rahul Gandhi, shared a video on Facebook sharing snippets of his recent interaction with labourers and loco pilots in Delhi.

 In the video Gandhi shared on Tuesday evening, several people were seen purportedly sharing their day-to-day struggles. They spoke about inflation and poverty and how things were better during the earlier Congress regime. 

 The Congress MP said that everyone in the country has to bear the brunt of inflation, unemployment and the government's negligent approach. 

 "Today in India, everyone from daily wage labourers to government employees are in dire straits--some due to inflation, unemployment, and some due to government negligence," Rahul Gandhi said. 

 Assuring people that he will raise their issues in Parliament as well as during protests, Rahul Gandhi said, "I will raise my voice for everyone's rights and provide justice--from the streets to the Parliament." 

 Earlier this month, Rahul Gandhi attacked the BJP-led central government after meeting railway loco pilots at New Delhi Railway Station who complained about "long working hours" and "inadequate facilities" during duty. Criticising PM Modi, Gandhi asserted that the life of loco pilots had completely "derailed" under BJP's regime and called them "Railways Ka Agniveer". 

On Sunday, he also posted a message along with a video on his social media handle X where he was spotted interacting with railway functionaries. In the post, he wrote that the loco pilots are forced to work more than 14 hours a day and are deprived of small basic necessities like urinals in a locomotive. He conveyed that loco pilots have to work in harsh conditions. 

 Furthermore, Gandhi claimed that the "non-movement" workers of Railways are getting whole benefits from the allocated budget to Railways. As seen in a video earlier, the loco pilots alleged that their human rights were being violated and they demanded a normal 8-9 hours working shift instead of 16 hours shift, fulfilment of basic facilities like urinal and AC in locomotives and only two-night shifts in consecutive order.
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