Employees of the Tamil Nadu Government Public Works Department Accounts and Administrative Staff Association staged a State-wide protest on Monday, wearing black badges to condemn the non-disbursement of October salary to over a thousand employees across the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Water Resources Department.The salary delay, affecting personnel from chief engineers down to office assistants, has severely impacted livelihoods as the Deepavali festival approaches, said Abdul Najimudeen, general secretary of the association.Association representatives revealed that the delay stemmed from files pending in the Finance Department and the salary item being disabled in the IFHRMS portal, leaving employees unable to receive timely pay even with government intervention.They noted that pay authorisation bottlenecks—with delays recurring every three to six months—and unapproved temporary posts have created major administrative hurdles, echoing a similar crisis last July when salaries were delayed past the 15th of the month.The association has put forward an eight-point charter of demands, urging the State government to disburse salaries immediately on a war footing and find a permanent solution to departmental issues rather than handling staff livelihoods casually.Key demands include issuing requested transfers pending for the last five months, promoting over 450 junior assistants and typists, regularising temporary workers who have served for over a decade, revoking Government Order No. 69, converting divisional accountant posts into a State service, and filling all vacant positions.Warning that this year’s festival risks becoming a ‘black Deepavali’ for PWD staff, the union announced escalated protests if their grievances are ignored.
A zonal-level dharna is scheduled for November 17, followed by a massive hunger strike at the Chennai PWD campus on December 8. Published - November 02, 2026 07:23 pm IST