Chennai, June 28: Tamil Nadu government today warned the state government employees and teachers that it will invoke the Essential Services Maintenance Act against them, if they resorted to indefinite strike from July 2. "Government will not hesitate to crush the strike," Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said in a statement here.
She renewed her appeal to the employees not to fall prey to the machinations of "evil forces" which were bent on putting the government in a "tight spot." Appealing to the employees to take a "positive decision" of not going on strike, Jayalalithaa said her government had announced various concessions and relief to the tune of Rs.552 crore last night, despite financial constraints.
"This is the maximum possible that can be done by the government under the present tight financial circumstances," she said. Terming the decision to go on indefinite strike as "unfortunate," she said she felt that the decision was not only "retrogade" but also amounted to giving "scant regard" for people's welfare.
When people of other strata of society like farmers, weavers, construction workers were suffering on account of "unprecedented drought," government employees should approach the issue with a "large heart," Jayalalithaa said.
With a view to preventing the strike, she held a meeting for nearly 90 minutes yesterday with over 30 representatives of joint action committee of Tamil Nadu Teachers Organisations and Government Employees Organisations (JACTTO-GEO) but the talks ended in a stalemate, with the organisations refusing to accept government's offer of relief to the tune of nearly Rs.552 crore.