Rail roko bid: Workers of NLC held

NEYVELI: Around 350 Neyveli Lignite Coropration (NLC) contract workers who were on indefinite strike and attempted to block a train on Monday at Mandarakuppam to attract Centre’s attention towards their demands were arrested before they entered the railway station.Stressing on 11 demands, including regularisation of contract workers, Jeeva Oppantha Thozilalar Sangam had declared indefinite strike from April 21. In order to put pressure on the NLC management to pay heed to their demands, workers had been staging various protests such as picketing and train blockade. On Monday, contract workers were stopped midway by the police when they were proceeding towards the railway station at Mandarakuppam near Neyveli. At once, they blocked the Vriddhachalam-Cuddalore road due to which traffic was disrupted for 15 minutes. The protest was led by Ukiravel of the AITUC.AITUC has said they would stage demonstrations across Tamil Nadu and in Cuddalore district in every block on May 12. They are also planning  a semi nude protest on May 10.Meanwhile, in support of contract workers’ protest, unions of NLC like Labour Progressive Front (LPF), CITU, LLF and PTS staged a hunger strike at Neyveli on Monday. Office bearers of the unions participated in the protest.Rajavanniyan of the LPF said: “The NLC management should fulfil the demands of the contract workers within two days. Otherwise we will intensify our protest in support of contract workers by coordinating with other unions.”