More than 760 volunteers of various political parties staged a demonstration in front of the Collectorate here on Friday, seeking an early settlement to the NLC contract workmen’s issue.
They assembled near the head post office and took out a procession to the Collectorate. They were led by M.R.K. Panneerselvam of the DMK, M. Sekar of the CPI, Thamarai Selvan of the VCK, and R. Govindasamy of the Pattali Makkal Katchi. Representatives of the Tamizhaga Vazhvurimai Katchi also participated.
However, the police placed barricades in front of the Collectorate and took the participants into custody.
Govt. interventionSpeaking to reporters, Mr. Panneerselvam said the issue remained unresolved even after several rounds of talks.
The workers’ demands were just, so the Central and State governments should intervene immediately and bring the strike to an end.
Other leaders said the management had obtained an interim injunction on the strike; but the workers, keen on getting justice, were not deterred by it.
They said that a couple of days ago, Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam met the union leaders and promised them that he would definitely take up the demands with the Coal Secretary and the NLC Chairman-cum-Managing Director, but nothing happened.
Velmurugan criticises planTVK founder T. Velmurugan has criticised a senior official of the NLC for his “provocative and unfair” statement, threatening to bring in labourers from other States if the contract workers did not end their strike.
In a statement here, he urged the management to dismiss officials who were insensitive to the workmen’s livelihood. He also noted that certain second-rung union leaders, instead of backing the cause of the workers, were trying to help the contractors bring in outside workers.
