Chennai: PMK leader Dr. Anbumani Ramdoss has called upon the state government to amicably resolve the agitation of government employees and teachers by accepting their meaningful and just demands.
Expressing his support for the government employees and teachers' struggle, Dr Anbumani said the Joint Action Council of Teachers' Organisations and Government Employees' Organisations (JACTO-GEO) has announced indefinite hunger strike from Monday. "It appears that the Tamil Nadu government has no intention of fulfilling their demands. Instead, the government is engaged in attempts to deceive them by making false promises," he said.
He said their demand for scrapping the new pension scheme and continuing the older one has not been conceded for the last 15 years. Reintroducing the old pension scheme was among the poll assurances of former CM J. Jayalalithaa in the run up to the 2011 Assembly polls, he pointed out.
Taking a considerate view of the employee's plight, the government should have called them to the negotiation table and averted the indefinite hunger strike, the PMK leader stated.
Some of their other demands include a minimum pension amount of Rs 5,000 to those who are entitled for pension, provision of minimum wage of Rs 18,000 and salary component equal to that of central government employees. They also opposed the government's move to lease out the regular work to private agencies and self-help groups and wanted to convert them into government jobs.
