Public meetings and rallies by the working class marked the ‘May Day' celebrations on Saturday.
At the May Day Park at Chintadripet, the Deputy Chief Minister, M. K. Stalin, offered floral tributes. Various trade unions and political parties, including the Congress, the AIADMK and the MDMK celebrated the day by organising public meetings. Workers affiliated to the CITU and the AITUC took out rallies.
In Kancheepuram, Collector Santosh K. Misra used the special ‘grama sabha' meeting organised in view of May Day at Veliyur panchayat in Wallajahbad panchayat union near here, to explain the salient features of the Kalaignar Housing Scheme to the public.
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Resolutions pertaining to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, installation of streetlights and cement roads were passed. Mr. Misra said that photographs of members of 13133 women self-help groups have been taken so far to provide identification cards to them. Out of this ID cards have been distributed to 9450 groups, he added.
A Red Flag rally and a public meeting were also organised in Kancheepuram on Saturday by the Makkal Mandram, a non-political organisation, to mark the May Day celebrations.
The participants, most of them from the unorganised sectors, assembled at Theradi on Gandhi Salai after a rally. They raised slogans highlighting the plight of youngsters, hailing from the families with little knowledge, who were absorbed by the multi-national companies to which the lands owned by the families were allotted for setting up industrial units.
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Surprise checks
The Labour Department on Saturday conducted surprise checks on 38 shops and 45 eateries in north Chennai and booked 83 cases against owners for not providing double wages or compensatory off to labourers for working on May Day.
A release said the raids were conducted under the direction of Labour Commissioner Hans Raj Varma by teams of Labour Department officials. K. Veerappan Inspector of Labour, North Madras Circle I, said the department would issue notices and give options to owners to either pay fines or go to the court.