CITU State president Soundararajan on Saturday said the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK) received more votes in the Erode by-election due to absence of major Opposition parties such as AIADMK in the fray.
The votes were not genuinely for NTK, but were rather a reflection of public opinion against the ruling DMK government.
He criticised the DMK government for failing to fulfil its numerous promises made in the election manifesto during the last Assembly election. Despite committing to implement the old pension scheme, forming a committee to assess the old pension scheme at the end of its term was unfair. The government was still discussing actions based on the committee’s report, indicating that the old pension scheme was unlikely to be implemented in the present administration.
He mentioned the increasing reliance on contract workers across various sectors including corporation, municipalities, town panchayats and village panchayats. Instead of appointing a permanent worker, the government continued to recruit contract workers, which was an unfair practice.
He also pointed to irregularities in the welfare board for unorganised workers including discrepancies in registration of workers.
On privatisation of public transportation, he said private buses were earlier permitted only in areas where government buses were unavailable, but now they were allowed to operate on routes where government buses were already in service leading to financial loss for the government. He demanded withdrawal of the privatisation move.
TNSTC had 300 depots, many workshops, expert drivers and infrastructure to operate electric buses and air-conditioned buses. Yet the government preferred private operators, which was unfair, he added.
Published – February 08, 2025 08:31 pm IST