Hundreds of retired transport employees besieged the corporations’ head offices in Chennai, Villupuram, Madurai, and other parts of the state, demanding that the corporations pay them the revised dearness allowance (DA) and release their pending retirement benefits.
Protesters occupying MTC headquarters on Pallavan Salai claimed that the final settlement for those who retired in 2016 had not yet been paid in full. They also claimed that the DA for pensioners was not increased to the same level as that for retired central government employees.
Several stages of protests were held by transport department employees during the previous AIADMK regime, demanding that government transport workers be paid Dearness Allowance, which has been discontinued since 2016.
MK Stalin, the then-opposition leader of Tamil Nadu, promised the transport department employee that if they were elected to power, they would provide them the Dearness allowance that was stopped. However, even after many months of DMK rule, the demand has not been met. Protesting the DMK government’s inaction after being elected, retired State Transport Corporation employees besieged the State Transport Corporation zonal office and staged a road blockade.
In a similar protest in Trichy, the Collectorate Road was completely blocked. The police, who had received the information, rushed in and negotiated with the protestors, forcing them to abandon their protest. As a result, traffic in the district was disrupted for over an hour.
In Coimbatore, police arrested 875 retired government transport employees who were on strike, demanding payment of benefits on their retirement day. They besieged the Government Transport Head Office on Mettupalayam Road and staged a protest.
Protesters stated that demonstrations were held in 9 government transport zones across the state, condemning the Tamil Nadu government for failing to implement a High Court order directing to provide DA for 87 months and for appealing the High Court order against the transport workers.
(With inputs from Thanthi and Malaimurasu)
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