Chief Minister Jayalalithaa thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his support in getting five Tamil Nadu public sector undertakings the five per cent stake in NLC.
According to an official release, Ms.Jayalalithaa spoke to Mr.Singh over phone on Monday afternoon and told him that his intervention led to a satisfactory agreement at the meeting of officials from Tamil Nadu and those of the Centre and SEBI in Mumbai. Mr.Singh, the release said, appreciated and thanked Ms.Jayalalithaa for the efforts she took to resolve the issue. The Prime Minister said he was for cordial relations with State governments.
Employees call off strike
Special Correspondent from Cuddalore writes:
Employees and contract workmen of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation called off their 13-day long strike and rushed to their work spots the moment they heard the news that the State government had clinched the deal with the Securities and Exchange Board of India on the purchase of 5 per cent of NLC shares on offer on Monday.
In the evening, secretary of the Anna Workers and Staff Union Rama.Udayakumar read out a fax message from Chief Minister Jayalalithaa appealing to the employees to withdraw the strike and report for duty. The striking employees were in such a hurry that they would not even wait for the formal announcement about the withdrawal of the strike by trade union leaders. They went straight to their work place and punched their cards to record attendance. Had they failed to report for duty on Monday they would have lost the monetary benefit for three days.
The fasting for the past three days had its toll on the health of as many as 26 union leaders.
