TIRUCHY: Railway unions have decided to hold a nationwide strike on February 16 pressing various demands, including the revival of the old pension scheme, said SRMU’s southern region president Raja Sridhar here on Thursday.

He made this announcement while addressing members of the SRMU, who gathered in front of the DRM office in Tiruchy and staged a hunger strike pressing their demands.

Speaking to reporters in Tiruchy, Raja Sridhar said more than 30 lakh members of the union have been on hunger strike for various demands, including the revival of old pension scheme and withdrawal of privatisation of Railways.

Already, members have commenced token strike in several places to put pressure on the union government to heed the demands. “We have been fighting for a long time against the Centre’s decision to privatise Railways, which will threaten the livelihood of several thousands of workers,” he said.

In order to press the union government to meet their demands, railway unions have decided to hold a nationwide protest on February 16 in which all the unions would take part.

“If the demands go unfulfilled, protests would be intensified subsequently”, he said.