TN Government sacks 12,000 welfare workers

CHENNAI: Scrapping yet another scheme of the erstwhile DMK regime, the AIADMK government has sacked over 12,000 village-level public welfare workers appointed during the tenure of the Karunanidhi government.A government order issued late last night directed District Collectors to remove all the workers, employed at a monthly consolidated amount of Rs 5,000 during the erstwhile regime.It said there is enough staff in the Rural Development department to handle works assigned to these workers and hence there was no need for them.The Jayalalithaa government has reversed most decisions of the DMK regime, including converting the new secretariat complex into a hospital, scrapping a health insurance scheme and distribution of free colour television sets.The latest in the series is the Jayalalithaa government's decision to convert Anna Centenary library into a multi-speciality children's hospital, which has set off a controversy.The DMK government had introduced the public welfare workers scheme in 1989 soon after it came to power, but the workers under the scheme were sacked by the Jayalalithaa government in 1991.DMK, which again came to power in 1996, reinstated them but they were sent packing in 2001, when AIADMK captured power. In 2006, DMK appointed additional public welfare workers.When introduced in 1989, the scheme met with stiff resistance from opposition parties who alleged that it was only meant to help ruling partymen.