Highway workers use ‘parai’ to protest against unfulfilled poll promises

Hundreds of members of the Tamil Nadu Highway Department Road Workers Union (Madurai Zone) here on Tuesday launched a high-decibel protest, using traditional folk music (parai) to demand the fulfilment of their long-pending four-point agenda.

The novel protest drew workers from across the southern districts, including Theni, Dindigul, Virudhunagar, and Ramanathapuram, signalling a unified front against what they describe as ‘anti-worker’ administrative shifts.

The primary demand of the protest was to abolish the State Highway Authority. Protesters argued that highway maintenance — a critical public service — should be managed directly by the State government rather than being outsourced or managed by an autonomous body.

“Road maintenance is a sovereign responsibility,” remarked one of the organisers T. Rajamanickam.

“By moving toward an authority-led model, the government is opening the door for privatisation and contract-based labour, which compromises both job security and road quality,” he added.

A deeply personal issue for many veteran workers was the demand to recognise a 41-month dismissal period as active service. This refers to a period where thousands of road workers were terminated under a previous administration’s policy before being reinstated following a protracted legal battle, they explained.

The protesters demanded that this gap be officially recorded as ‘duty time’ for pension and seniority purposes.

The protesters raised a formal list of requirements, including: Direct recruitment of rural youth as permanent road workers to address unemployment and local maintenance needs; Immediate job offers for the families of workers who died in the line of duty, many of whom have had applications pending for years; A technical pay scale revision for staff currently classified as non-technical.

The protesters directed their slogans toward the ruling DMK government and alleged that the promises made during the election campaign—specifically regarding the regularisation of service and better pay—remain unfulfilled.

The protesters warned that the agitation would escalate if the government failed to issue an official order addressing these grievances.