Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Protests galore on Onam day

Special Correspondent

Dharnas and hunger strikes in front of the Secretariat

NOTHING MUCH TO CHEER ABOUT: Non-Protected Teachers' Association members staging a fast in front of the Secretariat on Tuesday. — Photo: S. Mahinsha

Thiruvananthapuram: While the whole city slipped into a relaxed, festive mood on Thiruvonam day on Tuesday, the area in front of the Secretariat gates was a beehive of activity. Various organisations staged dharnas and hunger strikes to highlight their demands.

Arrack workers under the banner of the Kerala Samsthana Kalluchethu Vyavasaya Videsamadya Thozhilali Union (UTUC) staged a hunger strike demanding festival relief and rehabilitation of workers rendered jobless by the arrack ban. They also demanded debt relief, withdrawal of the arrack ban and a new liquor policy. The workers sat in rows on the footpath in front of banana leaves laid with soil. RSP State secretariat member S. Sathyapalan inaugurated the agitation.

The State committee of the School Paachaka Thozhilali Sanghatana staged a hunger strike urging the Government and the Education Department to sanction pay hike and clearance of arrears for over 15,000 workers engaged in cooking noon meals in various aided, LP and UP schools.

The Kerala State Retired Teachers and Employees' Union held a hunger strike demanding fixation of new pension scale for those who retired in the 2002-2004 period.

Earlier, the union members took out a rally from Palayam to the Secretariat, holding aloft banners and placards. A large number of women also turned out for the rally, which included a bare-chested man holding a begging bowl in a symbolic gesture.

Members of the Dalit Muslim United Front also went on a fast demanding compensation of Rs.10 lakh for families of those who died in police custody.

The other demands raised by the front include enhanced housing assistance from local bodies and improved civic amenities in Dalit colonies. Front president Y. Salahudeen inaugurated the agitation.

The Non-Protected Teachers' Association organised a hunger strike demanding protection of teachers in aided schools.

The teachers sat on the footpath with empty banana leaves in front.

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