CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday sought urgent intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resolve the grievances of the workers of the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), who have been on a strike since July 20 night.
The Chief Minister said the wage settlement for NLC workers was due from January 1, 2012 and though they had been given interim relief in June, 2014, their wage settlement had not been made so far. Now, the workers are on an indefinite strike seeking an early and satisfactory wage revision settlement.
Pointing out that NLC was one of the main sources of power for Tamil Nadu and about 1,450 mw of power is procured from the NLC complex, the CM said, “NLC is a profit making Public Sector Undertaking. May I therefore request you to kindly instruct the Ministry of Coal to immediately look into the grievances of the NLC workers and settle the issue amicably at the earliest in the interest of the industrial climate of the State and also in the interest of ensuring uninterrupted power supply to Tamil Nadu?”
On July 22, yet another round of tripartite talks between the NLC management and representatives of trade unions failed. Over 20 rounds of talks between the unions and the NLC management, have been in vain.