MADURAI
Members of Tamil Nadu Highways Department Road Employees Association (TNHDREA) staged a demonstration by using tom-toms in front of the Superintending Engineer’s office here on Tuesday to highlight their long-pending demands.
The key issues highlighted by the workers included the demand for considering the 41-month period when they were under suspension as work period in their service.
R. Tamil, State treasurer, TNHDREA, said the issue pertains to the suspension of 9,812 ‘gang mazdoors’ (road employees) in 2002 due to financial burden.
“We fought against the suspension in the courts and got back our jobs in 2006. However, the interim period when we did not have work was not considered in our experience,” he said.
He added that they were also demanding work for the heirs of 82 employees who died while under this suspension. “There are certain rules that prevent the heirs of these employees from being considered for employment on compassionate ground. We want relaxation be provided for them from these rules,” he said. They demanded that the salary be paid from the ‘Regular pay system.’ They also demanded increment in their salary by considering them under the category ‘unskilled employees.’
Importantly, the protesting workers raised slogans against outsourcing of road maintenance jobs to private sector.
