The 136 casual labour and consolidated pay casual labour employees of Madurai Kamaraj University who were dismissed from service observed a one-day hunger strike in front of the University entrance on Tuesday.
The dismissed employees have been holding protests seeking their reinstatement. The University dismissed them from service without prior notice citing the financial situation at the University, they said.
They have been protesting continuously for over two months now.
S. Sivanantham, a clerk who was dismissed from service, said they did not receive any order pertaining to their dismissal and were only told orally. Most of them were aged between 35-40 years and were the sole breadwinners of their families. They could not opt for private jobs nor could they apply for competitive exams.
He demanded that they be reinstated.
M. Senthilkumar, who was a clerk, said the temporary employees were struggling to make ends meet. The protests would intensify if there was no response from the authorities.
K. Neethi Raja, District secretary of Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association, said it was not 136 people who were protesting but families that were dependent on the salaries drawn by the employees.
The salaries of these employees were around Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000. The authorities cannot remove them from service citing financial situation. Financial irregularities have taken place resulting in the present situation and these employees cannot be made the scapegoat.
Deputy Mayor T. Nagarajan participated in the protest. He urged the University authorities to reconsider the decision and reinstate the employees. He said that it was unfortunate that the University has not responded to the demands of the dismissed employees.
They were appointed formally based on their performance in the interview. Though a procedure was followed in recruitment, they were removed without following a proper process.
The dismissed employees said they were removed from service at a time when most of them were expecting their services to be regularised. Most of the employees had worked for over 10 years and were suddenly dismissed.
They said their families were struggling to pull through as they also had loans to repay. As a result of the dismissal of 136 employees, the workload on other employees of the university had increased and they were overburdened. The protests would continue if the 136 employees were not reinstated..
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