Tamil Nadu: MLAs to double their salaries amid bus workers’ strike

Even though the transport workers’ strike in Tamil Nadu entered its seventh day on Wednesday, Chief Minister E Palaniswami on Wednesday tabled an amendment in the state Assembly to pave way for almost doubling the salary of the state's 235 legislators, from Rs 55,000 to 1.05 lakh a month. The hike, if implemented, is expected to cost the state exchequer Rs 14 crore a year.

The government is pushing for the implementation of this at a time of stark agrarian crisis in the state. At least 19 farmers had committed suicide last year. The farmers from the state were in news last year for staging protests at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

In an effort to pacify striking transport corporation workers, the Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday announced that ₹ 750 crore would be released this week towards retirement benefits, with Chief Minister K Palaniswami urging the agitators to withdraw the seven-day-old agitation, reported The Hindu.

Making a statement in the state Assembly, he said the amount would be given before Pongal festival (January 14) and it would benefit those who retired up to November 30, 2017, according to the report.

“The employees owing allegiance to 17 trade unions, including those affiliated to the DMK and the Left, are on an indefinite strike since January 4 after talks related to wage agreement issues with the government failed,” the report said, adding that “while the government has offered an increase in the wages by 2.44 times, the unions are demanding a 2.57-time hike.”

Family members of striking employees of state-run buses in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday staged demonstrations across the state as the strike entered its sixth day.

The authorities refused to accept the demands of the striking employees, who are seeking higher wages, and kept recruiting temporary bus drivers in a desperate attempt to restore bus services in the sprawling state.

Union leaders admit the strike has caused inconvenience to the people ahead of Pongal festival but claimed that the working and middle classes support their cause.

The wife of a driver protesting along with her husband and other staff complained that their demands were just.

"We are asking for the money that belongs to us," she said. "My husband has been serving without a break. And when they ask for their dues, this is the treatment they get," she told a private television channel.

The government claims that half the fleet is back on the roads, but commuters complained that this does not appear to be the case.

Transport Minister MR Vijayabhaskar announced special buses for Pongal but commuters said this looked like a promise only on paper.

The striking workers again turned down a plea of the minister to resume work.

The strike resonated in the Tamil Nadu Assembly where DMK leader MK Stalin urged the Chief Minister to talk to the striking workers.

Rebel AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran, speaking for the first time in the House after his election victory last month, also urged the government to resolve the problems of the strikers.

Dinakaran said the strike has caused great hardship to people all over Tamil Nadu, where state-run buses play a major role in transporting hundreds of thousands daily.

(With IANS inputs)