Govt. in no mood to accept demands of employees and teachers

The State government on Tuesday indicated that it is in no mood to give in to the demands of the teachers and government employees associations, as Minister for Personnel and Administrative Reforms D. Jayakumar renewed his appeal to them to return to work immediately.

Mr. Jayakumar reiterated that the State government was already facing a severe financial crunch.

“If ₹100 is tax receipts, ₹70 goes towards paying salary and pension, ₹24 goes towards repayment of loans and only with the remaining ₹6 we have to implement various government welfare schemes,” he told reporters when asked about the protests.

Despite the financial crunch, the State had been implementing the recommendations of the pay panel, he said.

Referring to the various committees constituted to consider reverting to the old pension scheme and to look into pay anomalies, the Minister said the State government was willing to implement the recommendations of these committees.

“If the committees recommend, we are going to implement it for sure,” Mr. Jayakumar said and added that the State government would implement the recommendations at the appropriate time based on availability of funds.

Refutes reports of death

The Minister also refuted claims that a teacher who took part in the protests had died. Mr. Jayakumar clarified that the teacher, a native of Papanasam in Thanjavur district, had a cardiac problem and was admitted to a private hospital.

“Neither did he come to Chennai nor did he participate in the protests,” the Minister said.