Engineers in Maharashtra to go on pen down strike on Monday

Thousands of engineers across the State will go on a ‘pen down’ strike on Monday to protest the attack on a deputy engineer by a group of Congress supporters led by Nitesh Rane, MLA, on the Mumbai-Goa highway earlier this week.
The Maharashtra Abhiyantriki Seva Mahasangh (MASS), an umbrella body of working engineers in the State, has written to Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Public Works Department (PWD), Manoj Kumar Saunik, informing him of the strike.
Under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, a pen down strike is defined as a “labour action” in which employees do not mark attendance or do any work while dropping their pens. The strike takes place in an office setting as opposed to an industrial setting, according to the law.
A video which went viral on Thursday showed Mr. Rane, MLA from Kankavali, shouting at a PWD deputy engineer Prakash Shedekar while his supporters poured buckets of muck on him. Mr. Rane, who had gone to inspect the progress of the Mumbai-Goa highway, was later arrested along with other supporters. The attack drew widespread criticism even from State cabinet ministers, including PWD minister Chandrakant Patil who promised the union that some action would be taken.

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