Workers employed by the Department of Horticulture and Plantation Crops in gardens and farms across the Nilgiris continued their protest at the Government Botanical Garden here on Tuesday.
Hundreds of workers began a relay fast at the Garden demanding that regularised, permanent employees be given “fixed timescale pay” as opposed to the “special pay” package that they now received.
The protesters said around 550 employees in the Nilgiris were permanent employees who would be eligible for benefits such as health insurance, leave and Provident Fund, among others if the government accepted their demands to be switched to the fixed timescale pay.
Another demand was to make daily wage workers employed by the department for more than five years permanent staff. The protesters also wanted the daily wage workers at parks, gardens and farms run by the Horticulture Department paid the minimum wage as fixed by the District Collector. They alleged that the department now paid them less than the wage fixed by the Collector. The workers also wanted eligible candidates considered for promotions.
The protest entered the sixth day on Tuesday, with workers staging a sit-in protest at the Garden. The agitation started on March 23, with concerns that the protest could potentially derail preparations for the upcoming summer tourist season, which included the Rose Show, Flower Show, Vegetable and Fruit Show.
