Road employees stage demonstration

Urging the State government to include their 41-month period of suspension as work period, members of the Tamil Nadu Highways Department Road Employees Association (TNHDREA) staged a demonstration at Sampath Nagar here on Wednesday.

According to the members, as many as 9,812 road employees were appointed in 1997-1998 by the State Highways Department, but their services were discontinued in 2002 citing financial burden. They filed petitions in the court and after a 41-month-long legal battle, they were reinstated in the department. However, the 41-month period was not included in their service and they have been urging the government to include their suspension period as a work period for the past 15 years. “We want our service period to be extended,” they added.

Workers from Erode, Gobichettipalayam, Karur, Tiruppur, Coimbatore and The Nilgiris participated in the demonstration and later submitted a petition to the Collector urging him to take up the issue with the State government. They said that their protest would continue in the coming days. They have planned a conference in Salem on February 26 in which over 10,000 workers and their family members would take part.