Members of Central Organisation for Electricity Employees-CITU submitted a petition at the Collectorate seeking reinstatement of contract labourers of the NLC Tamil Nadu Power Limited (NTPL), who were fired recently.
S. Appadurai, secretary of the association, said 40 contract employees of the NTPL were sent off recently, in violation of an order by the Regional Labour Commissioner in an industrial dispute, saying the status quo should prevail. The contract workers have not been made permanent, and are given a much lower pay despite their work being perennial in nature, he said.
“The employees were fired without any prior notice, and without taking into consideration the number of years they have served the company,” he said in his petition.
Plea to widen road
Members of CPI(M), led by Kovilpatti party town secretary Murugan and Thoothukudi town secretary Raja, sought the widening of the Manthithoppu Road in Kovilpatti citing the problem of traffic congestion on especially narrow sections of the road. The party members also demanded that government and private buses plying between Thoothukudi and Tiruchendur should halt at Mullakadu, where about 500 passengers, including school children, used the service.
Around 10 transwomen submitted a petition seeking jobs at anganwadi centres. They said that they had been applying for the job over the last two years and sought their appointment this year.
Vinoth Kumar, district secretary of PMK, sought action against those involved in sand mining near Vaippar after getting permission for using savadu soil (fertile sediment). He said that a resident of Dindigul, who had received permission for using the soil on patta lands, was digging up to 50 ft and lifting the sand, besides mining from the riverbed.