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 Tuesday 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.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, November 09, 2011, 13:30