TIRUNELVELI: Sanitation workers of municipal corporation and all other urban local bodies have demanded a revision in the daily-wage fixed for them. In a petition to Collector Ananth Mohan on Monday, the workers sought to enhance the wages from Rs 540 to Rs 732, citing a 2017 government order and a High Court order.
The petition was submitted during the grievance redressal meeting on Monday. R Mohan of the District Rural Development Workers’ Association led the sanitation workers affiliated to the CITU.
“The workers are receiving Rs 540 now. Due to the hike in fuel prices, the prices of essential commodities have skyrocketed. The workers find it very difficult to run their family with the meagre wages.
Meanwhile, the Tiruppur, Kanniyakumari and Erode administrations have fixed the daily wage of sanitation workers at Rs 732 following the 2017 GO and a Court order,” he said in the petition. He also opposed the meagre six per cent annual increase in wages affected by the Tirunelveli administration.
He recalled that the wage was reasonably increased by Rs 100 at a time during the tenure of Collector Sandeep Nanduri.
Aside, P Bhoopathi, a woman from Mangulam village near Vijayanarayanam urged the Collector to get her late husband’s postmortem report.
In her petition, she said, “My husband was electrocuted in September 2025. However, I am made to run from pillar to post to get his postmortem report which is required to close some loans.”
Other petitions at the meeting included those by farmer associations seeking waiver of crop and gold loans. They also demanded speedy dispersal of payment for their paddy from the State-run Direct Purchase Centres and National Cooperative Consumers’ Federation.
The farmers who staged a protest in this connection were detained by the city police and they were released later. In a petition, TASMAC workers demanded proper job transition for those who worked in the liquor outlets which were closed recently. Also, petitioner, K Velmurugan, urged for the release of water to Vadakku Kazhuvoor pond where hundreds of migratory birds nest.