CHENNAI: Though a few announcements were made for the state government employees in the budget, it has no mention of their key demand of reverting to the old pension scheme.
The JACTTO-GEO, the apex body of the government employees and teachers’ associations and the Tamil Nadu Secretariat Association (TANSA) expressed disappointment over the government’s failure to fulfil their long-pending demand. The JACTTO-GEO announced that to press for their demands they would be staging a hunger strike in all district headquarters on March 23.
Accepting one of the key demands of government employees, the minister announced the Earned Leave Surrender System would be restored. They can encash by surrendering up to 15 days of earned leave from April 1, 2026 and this would benefit more than 9 lakh government staff and teachers. Thennarasu also said 40,000 vacancies would be filled within the current financial year.
Key announcements are – personal accident insurance cover of Rs 1 crore to government employees in case of accidental death or permanent disability due to an accident; financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each, up to a total of Rs 10 lakh for the marriage expenses of daughters of the government servant deceased due to accident; higher education assistance of up to Rs 10 lakh will be given to the daughter of the government servant deceased due to accident; in the event of natural death during the service period, Rs 10 lakh will be given as term life insurance cover; and interest concessions will be given by banks to government employees while availing a personal loan, housing loan and education loan. The minister said the government will enter into MoUs with banks which are willing to provide this insurance coverage to government servants.
Meanwhile, the TANSA in a statement said, “The surrender leave encashment should have been made in the budget for 2026-27,” the association said.