Chennai: Protests by government staff and members of Jacto-Geo snowballed into a sixth day leading to state-wide protests.
In Chennai, government staff staged a protest at Chennai Collectorate courting arrest. Government offices in Salem, Erode, Tiruppur, Thiruvannamalai and Vellore had lean strength affecting administrative work and the protesters who thronged the district collectorates raised slogans against the state and demanded the scrapping of the new pension scheme.
The work on files at the Secretariat was not affected, but the impact of the
strike was visible with departments like rural development, revenue and school education virtually non-functional.
The holding of the ruling AIADMK party general council meeting had also rendered the state secretariat somewhat dull. The offices of ministers were deserted with no footfall and the usual buzz was also absent at the power corridors of the secretariat.
However, the CM's cell, offices of chief minister and chief secretary worked as usual.
Last month, chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan passed a circular warning secretariat staff not to indulge in any strike and also instructed heads of departments to ensure government staff are not given casual or long leave, said a government official, but some district government offices had witnessed disruption in work.
Government colleges in Chennai also saw classrooms closed as college professors also joined the protest. In Chennai, Jacto-Geo convenor Mayan told reporters that the strike would continue till a solution is arrived at for the demands raised by government employees.
