As many as 78 daily-rated workers, including 14 women, were arrested when they attempted to picket the assembly gate demanding their reinstatement in various government public sector undertakings and departments. Police had to resort to lathicharge to disperse the crowd.
The employees had met the Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy last week and had requested him for their reinstatement. The CM told them that their request will be considered and a decision will be taken after the Chief Secretary returned from New Delhi. But the return of the CS from the national capital was delayed and the daily-rated workers felt that they were left in the lurch.
Following this, the employees assembled in front of the assembly on Thursday morning to mark their protest by waving black flag at the CM. However, after hearing that CM may not come to his chamber soon, the workers squatted near the assembly gate, which was locked by the watch and ward staff.
The police personnel, led by Grand Bazaar inspector Cintha Kothandaraman, rushed to the spot. Though the police tried to reason with the workers, they were unrelenting. The police then resorted to lathicharge to disperse the crowd. As many as 78 workers, including 14 women, were arrested.
It may be recalled that over 4000 daily-rated government employees, appointed during the regime of the previous Congress government, were retrenched citing fund crunch after the N R Congress had came to power.