JACTTO – GEO starts agitation for revival of old pension scheme

128 members, including 24 women, detained in Tirunelveli for staging a road roko demanding revival of old pension scheme.

Police on Tuesday detained 128 members, including 24 women, of JACTTO – GEO as they staged a road roko to press their demands, including revival of the old pension scheme, in Tirunelveli.

 The protesters said the Tamil Nadu Government should scrap the contributory pension scheme and restore the old pension scheme as promised by the ruling DMK in its poll manifesto for the Assembly election for the benefit of government employees and teachers who were appointed after April 1, 2003. Since the Karnataka Government had revived the old pension scheme for its government employees and teachers, the Tamil Nadu Government should also fulfill its poll promise.

 The indefinitely shelved leave surrender facility and incentives for higher educational qualification should be given immediately. The middle, high, higher secondary school teachers, headmasters, physical directors and physical education teachers should be given salary on a par with Central Government teachers. The pay anomalies of postgraduate teachers, government employees, superintendents, secretariat workers, technical assistants, drivers should be weeded out. The secondary grade teachers working in high and higher secondary schools should be given promotion based on their educational qualification. Timescale should be given to anganvadi and nutritious meal scheme workers, village assistants, panchayat secretaries and the special teachers.

 All existing vacancies in the government departments and the schools and colleges should be filled-up immediately with timescale pay, the protestors said.

 The JACTTO – GEO leaders here said they had been forced to block vehicular traffic after the Tamil Nadu Government was maintaining inexplicable silence over their demands including restoration of the old pension scheme. After seeking the support of the leaders of political parties from February 5 to 9, the district-level conferences on strike would be held on February 10.

 “If the government, particularly Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, still chooses to turn a blind eye towards our protests, we will organise a token strike on February 15 and start an indefinite strike on February 26,” they said.

 Similar agitations were held in Thoothukudi, Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari districts also where the police detained the protestors and released them in the evening.