Pondy admn will take steps on AFT workers issue: CM

Puducherry, Apr 2 (UNI) The Puducherry administration will take all possible steps to redress the grievances of the Anglo-French Textile (AFT) mills workers, who are on an indefinite relay fast for the last eight days here, Chief Minister N Rangasamy told the Legislative Assembly today.

Replying to the issue raised by members during Zero Hour, the Chief Minister said the workers, who were not affiliated to any union had resorted to the fast and even failed to turn up when they were invited for concillatory talks.

They were demanding Dearness Allowance (DA) on par with officials, he said adding that Central DA could not be given in the mill.

The objective of the administration was to run the mill without incurring much loss, Mr Rangasamy said and added that during his discussion with with the management he was asked to find out the modalities in other mills.

The government would do everything possible to redress the grievances of the mill workers, he said adding that the legislators should also persuade them to come for talks to find an amicable settlement.

Earlier, R Siva(DMK) and Om Sakthi Sekhar (AIADMK) raised the issue in the House.

Later, with several members raising objection, Speaker R Radhakrishnan denied permission to Mr Ganapathy (PMC) to raise the issue of the resolution adopted in the House in the last session on minority reservation.

As soon as the member raised the issue, several ruling party members, including Anantharaman(PMK) objected stating that it was not mandatory that a reply be given to special mentions during zero hour.

The minority reservation was an important subject to which a reply is a must and hence it should not be raised during zero hour. With this, the Speaker said a short discussion be allowed on it and passed on to other subject.

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