The members of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) staged road block agitations in Salem and Namakkal districts on Tuesday, highlighting various demands.
The agitation, held as part of their Statewide protest near Salem Collectorate, witnessed the participation of over 350 members led by CPI state deputy secretary N. Periyasamy and CPI district secretary A. Mohan. The protesters raised slogans against the Union Government’s policies. The town police arrested 166 people, including 62 women, and lodged them in a marriage hall. They were released in the afternoon.
The protesters claimed that the policies of the Union Government, including changing 44 labour laws into four codes, privatisation of public enterprises, increasing unemployment, price rise of essential commodities, and dividing people on religious lines through RSS were “anti-people”. They demanded the State government to provide proper wages for conservancy workers employed in panchayats and municipal corporations. The AITUC urged the government to regularise those who had worked for 240 days, fix a minimum salary of ₹ 21,000 and a monthly pension of ₹ 6,000 for those registered in the welfare boards, and simplify the registration process for welfare boards.
Similar protest was held at Anna Statue near Tiruchengode in Namakkal district. The Tiruchengode police, led by DSP Mahalakshmi, removed 550 people.
