Demanding the retention of Tirunelveli Commissionerate and opposing the move to merge it with Madurai Commissionerate, employees of Central Excise staged a massive demonstration in front of their office at NGO Colony here on Monday.
The protesting Central Excise employees including a good number of women officers said the Tirunelveli Commissionerate having Tirunelveli, Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari districts and 3 taluks of Virudhunagar districts (Sivakasi, Srivilliputhur and Rajapalayam taluks) under its jurisdiction was generating ₹. 1,500 crore revenue a year.
However, the Madurai Commissionerate was generating only ₹. 1,046 crore a year from Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts and the remaining taluks of Virudhunagar district.
However, a high-level ploy had been hatched to merge the Tirunelveli Commissionerate with Madurai which was “totally unwarranted, inexplicable, retrograde and unreasonable.”
“Though the Tirunelveli Commissionerate is generating more revenue than Madurai and Salem (₹. 1,366 crore) Commissionerates, a top official has hatched this conspiracy of merging Tirunelveli with Madurai Commissionerate while retaining Salem also. Since this will result in wasteful expenditure and adversely impact the productivity and efficiency of both taxpayers and the officials here, the plan should be dropped,” the protesting officials also said.
The protesters also said they had forwarded their pleas to the Union Government through Minister of State for Shipping and Highways Pon. Radhakrishnan and MPs Vijila Sathyananth and K.R.P. Prabhakaran.
