CHENNAI: Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary P Shanmugam demanded that the state government hold talks with the protesting transport employees and criticised the action of denying police permission for the protest.

In a statement, the leader of the left party, which is an ally of the ruling DMK, said that around 1.50 lakh employees are working in the transport corporations. "But, the issues of the transport employees remain unsolved for more than 10 years. Retirement benefits are not provided on time, and dearness allowance is also denied to the retired employees, " he added.

Saying that the employees are continuously protesting to solve the issues, Shanmugam added that a protest is being conducted across the state by CITU demanding the disbursement of retirement benefits for 25 months, implementation of the old pension scheme.

"Instead of inviting the protesting workers to talks and resolve the issues, the government has denied permission to the protest in Chennai through the police. This action is unacceptable," he opined.

The statement added that retirement benefits for 10 months have been released on August 18.

"CPM is urging the government to hold talks with the protesting trade union to discuss the release of retirement benefits for the remaining 15 months to end the protest," he said.