Surinder Pal, circle secretary of the All India RMS and MMS Employees Union, Class III, said the strike was total in all the RMS and MMS offices throughout Punjab and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. These services are supposed to be available on all days round-the-clock.

Heaps of letters could be seen in the corridors of various post offices and many letter boxes did not have room for more letters. The call for the strike has been given by the National Federation of Postal Employees (NFPE) and the Federation of National Postal Organisations in support of their demands.

Surinder Pal alleged that on one hand, the Central gov-ernment was appealing to the postal employees to end the strike, at the same time it was "threatening" the em-ployees.