Chennai: State police on Monday arrested close to 200 members of Joint Action Council of Teachers Organisations and Government Employees Organisations (Jacto-Geo) after the office-bearers threatened a massive demonstration in front of the state secretariat on Tuesday.
According to state government employees association, the police started arresting the government employees early Monday morning when most of them were in the middle of their sleep.
“The police arrested our members in Tiruneveli, Coimbatore, Erode, Thiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts. Our general secretary Das and Tiruvallur district secretary Ilangovan have been arrested, but our association members will lay siege to the secretariat as those in power fail to understand our grievances,” said a Jacto Geo member in Chennai.
Meanwhile, police official sources maintained that elaborate arrangements have been made to arrest those demonstrating on Tuesday. All the approach roads to the secretariat will be cordoned and vehicles will be allowed only after verification. The preventive arrests will continue till Tuesday noon, sources said.
The government staffers were ill-treated just because they were demanding their benefits and the arrest by the state is a subject to be condemned, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss said in a statement recalling that in 2003, a similar arrest by the AIADMK regime led to a series of protests affecting public life. The state should hold talks and address the issue, he said.
