In protest against inter-district mass transfer of 934 Block Development Officers (BDO) across Tamil Nadu on Friday, the Tamil Nadu Rural Development Officials’ Association (TNRDOA) has started boycotting work from Saturday.
In the transfer done ahead of upcoming parliamentary elections, 934 of the 1,035 BDOs in the State were transferred out of the district. It can be noted that Tahsildars in all the districts associated with Tamil Nadu Revenue Officials’ Association have also begun boycotting work following a similar transfer of almost all Tahsildars outside their districts.
The Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department and the Revenue Department had attributed the transfer to the demand made by Election Commission of India that these officials should not be posted in their home districts or districts where they had served for more than three years in the past four years.
However, S. Ramesh, general secretary, TNRDOA, said that such transfers were always done within the district. “That is how it happened even during the last parliamentary and Assembly elections. We would not be retained in the same constituency if we fell under these conditions,” he said.
Stating that such transfers outside the districts were unprecedented, Mr. Ramesh demanded the government to revoke the transfers. “Tahsildars at least handle core election related work and they are designated as Assistant Returning Officers (ARO). What was the need to transfer us when we do not even handle such work,” he asked.
Pointing out that the boycott of work by all the roughly 25,000 employees who are part of TNRDOA will continue till the government revoked the transfers, he said that the ongoing work for the State government’s ₹ 2,000 cash assistance scheme would be hit.
“We have tremendous pressure to finish the work of enumerating beneficiaries for the scheme and uploading their details online as early as possible. Almost everyone is focussing on this work. Now, this will be severely affected,” he said.