Hundreds of noon meal workers were removed from the road for picketing the District Collectorate here on Friday. A section of organisers, helpers and cooks across the State are on an indefinite strike since Wednesday seeking better wages and other benefits from the government.
On Friday about 1,100 members of the Tamil Nadu Nutritious Noon Meal Scheme Workers association participated in the protest here. According to the police, nearly 720 of them including 700 women were removed from the spot and were taken to a marriage hall. There were tense moments and traffic congestion near the collectorate as protestors initially refused to clear the place.
Two women—Hamsaveni (35) and Elizabeth (38)—who took part in the protest, fainted and they were treated at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.
Protestors, led by the association’s District President M. Ignasimuthu, alleged that local body authorities and local politicians broke open doors of a few centres in the district where rice, essential commodities, money and records for running those centres were kept. The protestors said that they would clear the place only if personal assistant to the Collector for the scheme offered an explanation for the act.
Protestors said that decision on intensifying the strike would be taken at the state executive committee meeting at Tiruchi, on Saturday.
Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association (TNGEA) has extended is support to the noon meal workers. TNGEA district secretary S. Kumar said that their association would organise demonstrations at taluk offices across the State on April 20 and district level hunger strike on April 22.
Special Correspondent from Udhagamandalam adds:
As part of the series of demonstrations they have been resorting to for the past few days to draw the attention of the government to their demands including higher wages, noon meal employees staged a road block agitation here on Friday. Police sources said that 495 persons including 42 men had been arrested. Though nearly 99 per cent of the employees had participated in the demonstration, the functioning of the 520 noon meal centres in the district was not affected as self-help groups had taken care of them.
