CITU urges State govt. to fulfil election promises

Salem Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) State president A. Soundararajan said here on Sunday that

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) State president A. Soundararajan said here on Sunday that the State Finance Minister should look at economy from a governance point of view and not as a corporate’s economy.

Mr. Soundararajan, who participated in the State-level committee meeting of Tamil Nadu State Transport Employees Union, told reporters that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin must fulfil the promises made during election, including implementation of the old pension scheme.

Efforts were on to outsource workers for the transport corporation and TNEB. For the retired transport employees, dearness allowance (DA) was not paid for seven years. “We moved the court, and the Madras High Court ordered to provide the DA in November. But, the State government filed an appeal and did not pay the DA,” he said..

There were over 30,000 vacancies in the Transport Department, and there were no employees in the maintenance wing. Without maintenance, it would not be possible to prevent accidents. The government was considering taking private buses on contract basis. “We condemn the move,” Mr. Soundararajan added.

Stating that the union planned to meet the people and explain how the government was not fulfilling its promises, Mr. Soundararajan said that there was no option but to stage protests to urge the government to meet its demands.

“We do not want to go on an indefinite strike, but the government should not force us to do so. We would support this State government in its protest against the Union government. At the same time, we urge the State government to fulfil our demands. The alliance with the DMK is for political reasons, which is a separate issue. We will not have a relationship with the DMK if it joins the BJP, which will not happen. The CPI (M)’s alliance with the DMK remains intact and will continue,” he said.