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The indefinite bus strike called by the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) across the state entered its second day on Wednesday.
The union workers accused the state government of neglecting their demands. Apart from the signing of the 15th wage revision agreement to increase pay, they also demanded the government fill up the vacancies for bus drivers and conductors. Additionally, their demands also included releasing the dearness allowance (DA) of Rs 6,000 per month for the retired workers, which has been on hold for the last eight years. Workers affiliated with the major unions--Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), and Anna Thozhir Sanga Peravai (ATSP), among others--are part of the strike. Meanwhile, in the Tirunelveli district, all the buses left the workshops for Madurai, Kanyakumari, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Tiruchendur, Rajapalayam, and Sankarankovil and are running as usual. There are 898 buses in Government Transport Tirunelveli Zone, including 7 depots in Tirunelveli district, 7 depots in Thoothukudi district and 4 depots in Tenkasi district. Moreover, the government has appointed monitoring officers, who are monitoring the operation of all the buses as per the schedule. Police have also been stationed in front of all workshops and bus depots for security in Tirunelveli district. Earlier, Tamil Nadu Transport Minister SS Sivasankar termed the strike a 'political move'. The DMK-affiliated Labour Progressive Federation (LPF) Union has said this strike is politically motivated by AIADMK and requested all workers to ply the buses. "LPF also has the same demands. The DMK government is fulfilling each demand one by one. By keeping the goodwill of the public in mind and also to break the AIADMK political motivation, it is being requested to run all the buses normally," a statement from LPF Secretary and MP Shanmugam read. (ANI)
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