Karuna Urges Jaya to hold talks with NLC employees

Chennai:  DMK chief Karunanidhi on Friday expressed his concern over the continuation of strike at Neyveli Lignite Corporation and its possible impact on power generation in the state, and urged the Tamil Nadu government to hold talks to amicably settle the issue.

 Party President M Karunanidhi said while Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking Centre's intervention, it was however not enough. He urged her to hold discussions with the stakeholders.

 DMK chief said that when a similar problem had cropped up in the past while he was the Chief Minister, he held talks with people concerned to amicably settle the matter. Therefore, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa should not further delay the matter and must hold consultations involving representatives of NLC and trade unions, besides consulting the Central minister concerned so as to amicably settle the wage dispute issue and end the strike, he said in a statement here.

 There was a threat of power supply being disrupted in the state with about 20,000 workers having joined the strike, he added. Karunanidhi asked why NLC, a profit-making PSU, was not coming forward to disburse just wage hike for its employees. Trade unions had embarked on an indefinite strike since July 20 following failure of talks with management over wage revision and other demands.

PTI