Palaniswami urges TN govt to release ‘arrested’ teachers at once

Condemning the alleged house arrest of the protesting secondary school teachers, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Monday (January 12) demanded their immediate release.

Flaying the Tamil Nadu government over its handling of the Secondary Grade Seniority Teachers’ Association (SSTA)’s ongoing protest demanding “equal pay for equal work”, he alleged that the leaders who were put on “house arrest” were denied access to their mobile phones.

‘Basic rights denied’

“As the secondary teachers have been protesting for the 17th consecutive day demanding the fulfillment of the DMK’s election promise on equal pay for equal work, the Stalin government has put under house arrest eight persons, including the state executives of the SSTA since 8 am yesterday,” Palaniswami claimed.

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Their mobile phones were taken away and switched off. “The puppet chief minister’s government does not know how to handle the protest smoothly. Engaging such tactics and denying them even basic rights of accessing their phones is condemnable,” the former chief minister said in a post on the social media platform ‘X.’

Why teachers are protesting

He further said the state government would be held accountable if any “minor harm” befell those who have been arrested. “I urge the DMK government to immediately release the arrested teachers,” he said.

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The government teachers have been on protest since December 26, seeking the government's intervention to set right basic pay anomalies between the teachers appointed after June 1, 2009, and those recruited till a day before this date. The difference in basic pay, which was Rs 3,170 initially, has increased to about Rs 9,000 over the years, they claim.

(With agency inputs)