Hundreds of men and women from various teachers and government officials’ associations took part in a protest organised by the Joint Action Committee of Tamil Nadu Teachers' Organisations-Government Employees’ Organisations (JACTTO-GEO) coalition here on Tuesday to highlight their demands.
The key demands of the protesters included repeal of the Contributory Pension Scheme, swift implementation of recommendations of the Central Government’s Seventh Pay Commission for State government employees and a monthly payment of 20 % of the incremental basic and grade pay as an interim relief.
‘Nothing happened yet’
The protesters highlighted that though the State government formed a committee to look into the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission recommendations in February following the protest of government employees, nothing fruitful had happened yet.
They said that the committee, which was initially given three months’ time to submit its report, was now given an extension.
“This shows that the government is not serious about the implementation of Seventh Pay Commission recommendations for its employees,” an office-bearer of the coalition, who spoke at the protest, said.
A few office-bearers belonging to different associations that are part of the coalition, who spoke at the protest, came down strongly on the ruling party in Tamil Nadu for showing an ‘indifferent’ attitude towards the demands of government employees and focussing mainly on safeguarding the government.
Tamil Nadu Government Employees’ Association (TNGEA) State president M. Subramanian, Tamil Nadu Postgraduate Teachers’ Association State president K.P.O. Suresh and office-bearers of various organisations took part in the protest.
JACTTO-GEO said that a protest would be organised in Chennai in the first week of August if the government did not consider their demands.
