As many as 482 noon meal workers including 423 women and 59 men courted arrest in Tuticorin on Friday while staging road roko near Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association (TNGEA) office on Palayamkottai Road in support of their demands.
The workers were already involved in an indefinite strike for the third consecutive day demanding that the seeking State government fulfilled their demands for implementing standard time scale pay, S. Ponsekar, district president, Tamil Nadu Noon Meal Employees Association, who led the agitation, said.
Among their other demands are minimum pension amount of Rs.3,050 and an increased ex gratia for noon meal organisers, cooks and cooking assistants. They were being paid only Rs.20,000 to Rs.50,000 and it should be increased to Rs.2 lakh, they said.
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Pressing similar demands, the Noon Meal Employees Association with the support of Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association would stage demonstrations in all taluks on April 20. The association would further organise agitations in all district headquarters on April 22, he said. The agitating workers were forcibly evicted, when they blocked the road. Earlier, the workers sought permission to take out a procession from the TNGEA’s office, but the police denied it. Subsequently, barricades put up on Palayamkottai Road were pushed down by some workers in the scuffle. Out of 3,332 noon meal workers in the district, around 2,000 workers took part in the agitation, sources said.
Tirunelveli
In Tirunelveli district, 186 noon meal workers including 151 women were arrested while blocking vehicular traffic near Tirunelveli old bus stand on Madurai Road on Friday, police sources said.
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Nagercoil
As many as 41 employees including 5 men of Nutritious Meal Scheme were arrested when they resorted to road blockade opposite the Collectorate on Friday. They staged a brief demonstration before they were arrested and raised slogans urging the government to implement their 32-point charter of demands. All the arrested were kept in a private marriage hall, and released later in the evening.