CHENNAI: Urging to fill 5,493 vacancies of gangman at the electricity board, thousands of job seekers staged a protest outside Chief Minister MK Stalin’s MLA office in Kolathur constituency on Wednesday.
A few hours into the demonstration, they began a hunger strike. The Kolathur police initiated a peace talk, and the protesters were taken into custody and detained in a marriage hall.
R Sankar, a 29-year-old protester from Salem, told TNIE, “During the previous AIADMK regime, the state government conducted an examination to fill 9,613 gang man positions. Around 15,000 aspirants took the examination. However, the electricity board appointed individuals who scored lower marks than us. Though we scored high marks are still awaiting a placement order from the board. Though minister V Senthil Balaji promised action and formed a special team to assess the situation, no progress has been made,” he said.
S Vijay, (30) hailing from Dindigul, said, “We have been waiting for this job for the past three years. We initiated this protest to draw the chief minister’s attention to the issue,” he said, and emphasised on their commitment to continuing the protest until the appointments are made. A senior official told TNIE, “The committee is still in the process of compiling its report. Once the government receives the report, it will decide on the matter.”