Ramanathapuram/Sivaganga

Continuing the strike and picketing agitation, more than 3,000 teachers and government employees of Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisations (JACTTO) and Government Employees Organisations (GEO), courted arrested on Monday in the two districts.

Ignoring the deadline served by the government to join duty, a large number of teachers, of primary and middle schools, mostly women joined the stir and raised slogans in support of their demands in the two districts.

A total of 1,480 teachers and government employees, including 886 women, courted arrest in Ramanathapuram after they squatted on the Ramanathapuram – Rameswaram national highway in front of the Collectorate complex.

As they had resisted and protested when police had arrested the office-bearers, the district police detained the arrested teachers and government employees in the district in marriage halls in Ramanathapuram, Paramakudi, Thirupullani, Devipattinam and Uchipuli. Nearly 615 of the 692 Panchayat union elementary and primary schools remained closed in the district, police said. The ministerial staff in the district police office staged a demonstration, expressing solidarity with the striking teachers and employees.

The Sivaganga police arrested 1,558 teachers and government employees, including 873 women, when they staged the picketing agitation near Aranmanai, in front of the Collectorate, police said. They were detained in two marriage halls and Armed Reserve police barracks in Sivaganga, police said.