CHENNAI: Revenue department employees who had been boycotting work related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ended their protest on Wednesday afternoon after the state government assured them that their key demands would be considered.
Murugaiyan, coordinator of the Federation of Revenue Associations (FERA), told TNIE that federation representatives held talks with Revenue Secretary P Amutha on Tuesday, followed by discussions with Commissioner of Revenue Administration M Saikumar and Additional Commissioner (Admin) S Natarajan on Wednesday.
“On the first day of our protest, a GO was issued revising remuneration for all levels of officials involved in SIR work, including BLOs and supervisors. Orders for creating additional posts will also be issued soon. Additional staff have been posted to support BLOs from Tuesday, and late-night review meetings have been discontinued,” he said.
As per the GO issued by CEO Archana Patnaik on Tuesday, the annual remuneration for BLOs has been doubled from Rs 6,000 to Rs 12,000, with an additional special incentive of Rs 2,000. Supervisors’ remuneration has been increased from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000 per annum. FERA’s demand for an honorarium equivalent to one month’s salary for all revenue employees engaged in SIR work is under consideration.
Deadline extension sought
The revenue department staff have asked the state government as well as election commission to give 30 days more for completing the enumeration work beyond the present deadline of December 4, considering the quantum of work involved. MP Murugaiyan, State coordinator, FERA, said senior revenue department officials have promised to take up this demand with the ECI.
PMK founder S Ramadoss also supported the demand. In a statement, he said the election commission should extend the deadline at least by 15 days, considering the practical difficulties involved. When asked about the possibility of extending the deadline, a senior official in the election department said till now, extension of the deadline has not been considered.
6.1 cr voters got forms
Chennai: The ECI on Wednesday said till date, 95.16% voters (6.10 crore) have received their enumeration forms. Of the 6.10 crore forms distributed, 1.11 crore forms (17.37%) have been digitised, the commission said