The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Why were road workers not taken back earlier, asks Karunanidhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 04, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Why were road workers not taken back earlier, asks Karunanidhi

Special Correspondent

Claims decision came days before apex court was to deliver its verdict in the case

CHENNAI : Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M. Karunanidhi asked why Chief Minister Jayalalithaa did not take back the road mazdoors earlier, though the government had a huge outlay for roads and highways.

The Opposition had demanded that the dismissed road workers be taken back; the High Court had ordered that the workers should be reinstated and the workers themselves had undertaken many protests to press for the demands. But the Government did not heed to any of these, he said in a statement here.

Mr. Karunanidhi said that the DMK government had inducted them in a bid to combat unemployment.

After the AIADMK came to power, they were dismissed. For the past four-and-a-half years, the workers have been running from pillar to post to get reinstated.

High Court judgment

Quoting extensively from the Madras High Court judgment, he said that the Chief Minister had cited the High Court order to take back the workers. He pointed out that the Court observation had come long ago and claimed that the decision to reinstate them came when there were only a few days before the verdict was to be delivered in the case by the Supreme Court.

She did not want to risk getting rapped again by the Apex Court and hence had taken the decision, he alleged.

The DMK chief recalled how he consented to take back employees of a government run dairy after a then CPI MLA brought it to his notice.

The 1095 workers were dismissed by the earlier AIADMK Government , he said. But in this case, it was a well-known fact that the Chief Minister was adamant on not taking the workers back.

Mr. Karunanidhi wanted to know if the Chief Minister had forgotten the 13,000 noon meal workers and the 9000 cooperative workers. What crime did they commit? he asked.

The workers were reinstated because elections were near, said Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss. He recalled that the DMK, PMK and the main Opposition parties had been demanding their reinstatement both inside and outside the Assembly.

The reinstatement was a victory for the Opposition, he said.

The Dravidar Kazhagam also welcomed the reinstatement of the road mazdoors.

Many Unions, including the Tamil Nadu Government Employees Union, the Tamil Nadu Government Officers Union, welcomed the decision to take back the road mazdoors.

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