Tamil Nadu govt faces 'mass bunking' as thousands of employees avail casual leave over unfulfilled poll promises

Chennai: In fresh trouble for the Tamil Nadu government, thousands of government employees, including teachers, across the state stayed away from work on Tuesday by availing casual leave demanding that the ruling DMK fulfills promises made to them during the elections like reinstatement of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).

The members of the Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Organisations-Government Employees Organisation (JACTO-GEO) resorted to the “silent protest” after the Madras High Court directed them not to hold any agitation. They availed CLs after a marathon discussion with a committee of four ministers to thrash out a solution failed on Monday night.

.Tamil Nadu CM Stalin convenes all-party meeting on delimitation exercise on March 5 . Apart from OPS, the employees have been demanding an early resolution on salary related issues faced by them and better pay for secondary school teachers, high school, and higher secondary school principals. The members, who held protests outside their offices across the state, “warned” the DMK government that it will have to face their wrath if it doesn’t pay heed to their demands.

Government employees, in general, are pro-DMK and have formed the core vote bank of the ruling party for the past several decades. In fact, the employees had come openly against the AIADMK in 2004 Lok Sabha polls after the then Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa suspended lakhs of government servants by invoking Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) against them for protesting against the government.

The DMK has always been considerate to their demands as they formed a significant chunk of its followers. However, the employees have been up in arms against the DMK for the past two years with the government dithering on its promise of reinstating the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), which could put more pressure on the exchequer.

.Watch | Amid language row, activists blacken Hindi in Tamil Nadu railway nameboard. “The DMK came to power with our support but they have left us in the lurch. None of our demands have been met so far. We hope they at least notice us after today’s protest. If they don’t fulfill the promises made to us, we will teach them a lesson (in the next elections),” an office-bearer of JACTO-GEO told DH.

Unwilling to take chances, Chief Minister M K Stalin had on Sunday deputed senior ministers to hold talks with the employees with assembly elections just a year away. However, the JACTO-GEO is very persistent that the government should re-introduce the Old Pension Scheme and scrap the Unified Pension Scheme.

Sources in the DMK told DH that efforts will be taken to pacify government servants as any escalation in their agitation would come as an embarrassment to the party-led dispensation.

Tamil Nadu govt faces 'mass bunking' as thousands of employees avail casual leave over unfulfilled poll promises

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