PUDUCHERRY: More than 750 temporary workers of a government-owned corporation, who were on strike demanding salary that was not paid for the past six months, have been sacked by the N Rangaswamy government in the Union territory.

More than 300 permanent workers who were also on strike were given showcause notices by the government asking why legal action should not be initiated against them.

The government-owned Puducherry Agro Products, Food and Civil Supplies Corporation (Papsco), which employs more than 1,000 workers including permanent, contract and daily wage earners, has not disbursed salaries since October last year owing to paucity of funds. The workers went on strike from March 19 demanding that the government release their salaries at the earliest.

In return, the government sacked 752 temporary workers and issued show cause notices to 337 permanent workers on Friday. The government said the corporation was not in a position to disburse salaries . A section of sacked workers staged a protest in front of Papsco office to condemn the decision, which was taken without issuing any notice. They demanded reinstatement and their salaries.

When the protestors learnt that the government had directed the permanent workers to resume work on Monday and did not take any decision to reinstate the dismissed temporary workers, they attempted to picket the office. Police resorted to lathicharge and dispersed the protestors.

Earlier, representatives of various unions met chief minister N Rangaswamy and urged him to revoke the dismissal of workers. The CM told them the decision would be reconsidered after consulting the territorial officials.

The opposition Congress slammed the government’s ‘highhandedness’ and said it had resorted to vindictive action against the workers.

Puducherry Pradesh Congress Committee president A V Subramanian said several corporations including Papsco started incurring huge losses after the government appointed more workers through the backdoor, bypassing recruitment through employment exchange.

“Papsco yielded profits until recently. But large-scale corruption in the execution of free rice scheme and administrative lapses greatly affected the financial position of the corporation, which started facing huge losses in recent times,” Subramanian said.

The Rangaswamy government had earlier removed about 4,000-odd workers appointed by the previous Congress government in public sector undertakings, government and quasi government agencies after assuming charge in May, 2011. Three sacked workers have committed suicide in the last four years after the government refused to reinstate them.

The successive governments in Puducherry had appointed approximately 20,000 workers through the backdoor in government and quasi government agencies in the last 15 years, while more than 1.5 lakh job aspirants registered with the employment exchange continue their long wait for employment in government service. The services of about 5,000-odd workers, who joined through back door, have been regularized so far.