The Tamil Nadu government on Sunday (February 23, 2025) announced that a team of four Ministers would hold talks in the Secretariat on February 24, Monday with representatives of various State government employees’ associations over their demands. Their demands include restoring of the Old Pension Scheme and resumption of various incentives that were withdrawn by the State government.
The announcement came ahead of the protests called for by the Joint Action Council of Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Organisation and Government Employees Organisation (JACTTO-GEO) pressing various demands in all district headquarters scheduled on February 25, Tuesday.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has constituted a team of Ministers, including E.V. Velu, Thangam Thennarasu, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi and N. Kayalvizhi Selvaraj that would take part in the meeting with representatives of various associations towards arriving at an “appropriate decision”, an official release said.
However, it is not clear if the government could make any announcement after the meeting, as it has not been the convention to do so, after the date for commencement of an Assembly session has been announced, a source indicated.
Tamil Nadu Secretariat Association president G. Venkatesan termed the government’s decision a “welcome move”. “It is good that the government is calling for talks. But, our future course of action would depend on the follow up actions by the government after the talks,” he said.
Frederic Engels, State coordinator of the Contributory Pension Scheme Abolition Movement, said: “Instead of fulfilling the assurances made in the election manifesto, the DMK government is constituting more committees over them. This is only part of its delaying tactics. The talk is aimed at fizzling out the protests called for by various associations on Tuesday next”.
Even the meeting of three Ministers with office-bearers of various associations a few months ago only led to associations temporarily postponing the protests but nothing much materialised since then, he recalled.
Earlier this month, the State government announced that it had constituted a committee to study the Old Pension Scheme, Contributory Pension Scheme and the Unified Pension Scheme (notified by the Union government) and recommend one system that “would be suitable for implementation” in Tamil Nadu.
