Tamil Nadu: Give social security benefits, say rural development staff

CHENNAI: Hundreds of contract and temporary workers, working under the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department staged a sit-in protest near the department's directorate at Panagal Maaligai in Chennai on Monday, seeking immediate issuance of Government Orders (GOs) for a set of long-pending demands accepted by the State earlier this year.

The protest was organised by the Tamil Nadu Rural Development Labour Union (TNRDLU).

The key demands include payment of COVID-19 incentives, regularisation of work and salary revision for coordinators, computer operators and health workers, minimum wages for sanitation workers including those who work in schools, special time-scale pay for overhead tank operators, and provision of ESI, PF, family insurance, gratuity and pension, filling up of vacant posts and enhancement of incentives.

“Workers have toiled hard during COVID. What we ask is our fair right. That’s why we’re protesting now in the capital,” said P Krishnaswamy, general secretary, TNRDLU.

According to union representatives, the workers had held a conference in Dindigul on January 7, 2024, following which 11 demands were submitted to the government. After prolonged protests and negotiations, the demands were accepted on principle on January 6, 2025, and the assurance was also given in writing.

However, the union said that not a single GO has been issued so far, prompting the fresh round of agitation.

After the day-long protest, Gagandeep Singh Bedi, secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, assured the union that the demands would be fulfilled within 3 weeks, TNRDLU representatives said.