The Melmaruvathur railway station attracts considerable crowds, the number of passengers often touching 10,000 per day during peak season. Passenger traffic is especially high during the festival at the Adhi Parasakthi temple nearby.
However, contract workers, who were hired by a private agency for maintenance of essential services, are unhappy with their pay.
The Southern Railway entered into a two-year contract with a Chennai-based service-providing agency in January 2013. The company was to be paid Rs. 3,049 per day for round-the-clock maintenance, including keeping the premises clean, maintenance work for toilets, drinking water pipes and washbasins and clearing of cobwebs
However, the workers, most of them women residing in the area, complained that they were paid only Rs. 150 for 8 hours of work.