Staff agitations put TN on a slippery road

Joseph Vackayil

Not just something, but many things are rotten in the state of Tamil Nadu. What is surprising is that the decay has been so sudden, and the government seems clueless. Transport workers are on strike. State electricity board staff are agitating. Co-operative bank employees, too, are on the warpath. All in all, the entire lot of state government employees are a discontented lot.

Chief minister O Pannerselvam is in a predicament worse than that of Prince Hamlet of Denmark. He has limitations to act though he is the legal administrative head. Decision-making has, therefore, become the biggest casualty in the state.

There was a time when Tamil Nadu was at the top in all sectors—financial, industrial, agricultural and social. Central teams had even hailed it as a model for development, with a growth rate above the national average. Foreign direct investment was rising and investors were upbeat. The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation data had shown over 300 investment proposals at different stages of clearances or approvals, and even investment. State finances were projected as better. The services sector, from bus service to power supply to software development, had picked up pace, and agricultural production had touched record levels.

All this seems to have disappeared into thin air. The transport corporation, which had an accumulated loss of Rs 2,035 crore as on March 31, 2001, nows faces an unprecedented labour strike for higher bonus. The state had offered Rs 1,000 as festival advance and the statutory minimum bonus. The workers want 20 per cent. They have been getting 20 per cent in the previous years. State transport minister Nainar Nagenthran’s appeal to the workers is going unheeded.

With mounting losses, the transport department can ill afford to pay what the workers are asking for. Burdened with huge deficits, the state government has no means to bail out the department. In fact, the government plans to seek a Rs 1,150 crore World Bank loan to buy over 6,500 buses to keep the corporation running.

But the workers, under the joint action committee of 10 trade unions, except those affiliated to the ruling party, seem adamant. What is more paradoxical is the virtual isolation of the ruling AIADMK at this hour. Almost all political parties have called for meeting the demand of the transport workers. But none is coming forth to suggest the means for paying the same.

Close on the heals of the strike by the transport corporation workers, are workers from another loss-making giant, the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB). Since a section of TNEB workers are not on strike, the consumers have been spared. Their demand is the same—20 per cent bonus. TNEB, however, has announced the minimum, 8.33 per cent. The electricity board, too, is saddled with huge losses owing to subsidies, power theft and lower tariffs. Its cumulative losses are close Rs 5,000 crore. Free power to farmers costs it over Rs 3,200 crore. Subsidy to domestic consumers stands at Rs 1,400 crore.

The state is also planning to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Centre for power reforms. With a section of agitating employees and dissatisfied consumers, how successful the board will be in putting the power sector in order remains to be seen.

It may be recalled that a white paper on state finances, released on August 18, had highlighted the state’s precarious financial position. The paper put the entire blame on the previous DMK government. However, the state finance minister, C Ponnaiyan, who still points an accusing finger at the DMK, is yet to put an action plan in place.
It is time the Tamil Nadu government, which is already on a slippery road, made some serious effort to move ahead. If it does not act fast, the continuing agitations will make its journey still more arduous.