Retired employees of Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) on Monday staged a demonstration in front of the Madurai Collectorate demanding payment of increased dearness allowance (DA). The retired staff have not received it since November 2015, they said.
TNSTC’s Retired Employees Welfare Association (REWA) said that there were about 85,000 retired employees in the State. Several representations were made to the authorities, but the demand has not been met, said its general secretary R. Devaraj. They urged the authorities to disburse the dearness allowance immediately.
Further, Mr. Devaraj complained that the health insurance scheme was not being implemented for the retired staff. “We have urged the authorities to recover the premium from the pension. But the request has not been looked into,” he said. They also urged adequate medical cover for the TNSTC staff and family pensioners.
The terminal benefits have also not been settled to staff members who have retired since May 2020. It has not been settled for those who opted for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and for the family members of those employees who had died, he said.
The minimum pension amount should be fixed at ₹7,850 as per the Pay Commission. But it is only ₹3,050. “How can people run a family with this small amount,” he said. The association members also demand that the new pension scheme be scrapped and the old pension scheme be implemented. Following the demonstration, the association members submitted a fresh representation to the Collector.