JACTTO GEO members go on mass casual leave, stage protest

Members of JACTTO GEO staging a dharna in front of Palayamkottai Taluk Office in Tirunelveli on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: A. SHAIKMOHIDEEN

Members of Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisation and Government Employees’ Organisation (JACTTO GEO) organised massive demonstrations here on Tuesday to press their demands, mainly restoration of old pension scheme as promised by the DMK in its poll manifesto for the 2021-Assembly elections.

Gathering in front of Palayamkottai Taluk Office on the Tirunelveli district collectorate campus, the protesters raised slogans reminding Chief Minister M.K. Stalin of his poll promise of reviving the old pension scheme for government employees and teachers.

The teachers and the government employees supported the DMK overwhelmingly in the 2021 Assembly polls based on the promise of looking into their genuine demands. However, even four years after becoming the Chief Minister, the promises are yet to be fulfilled, they said.

While the demonstration on Tirunelveli Collectorate was peaceful, the government employees and the teachers who gathered in front of Thoothukudi Collectorate in large numbers became furious after they were forcibly stopped at the main entrance of the collectorate on the Thoothukudi – Tirunelveli highway. As the 100-odd police personnel deployed inside the Collectorate had kept metal barricades at various spotsm including the main entrance, to stop them, they tried to enter the Collectorate.

When the police exerted pressure on the protesters and reinforced the barricades with their muscle power, the situation became tense with the 600-odd protesters, including women in significant numbers, too resisted the attempt and pushed aside the metal barricades. Even as the protesters were marching towards the main building housing the Collector’s chamber, the police tried to prevent them but in vain.

Meanwhile, the huge metal gate at the entrance of the administrative building was closed with the police guarding this point. Though the police had kept metal barricades in front of the gate to thwart the protesters’ attempt to enter the administrative building campus, it was also neutralised. However, the protesters, who were raising slogans against the police and the government, could not cross this point as the gate was closed.

Even as the demonstration was going on, the police arrested 360 protestors who were released in the evening.

The JACTTO GEO members organised similar protests in Tenkasi and Kanniyakuamri districts. In the demonstration held in front of the Kanniyakumari Collectorate in Nagercoil, over 1,000 teachers and government employees participated.

Normal functioning of schools and government offices was badly hit in view of the agitation as the protesters went on mass casual leave. As some of the schools had to be closed after most of the teachers went on leave, teachers from the nearby schools were rushed to these schools to manage the situation.