Picture used for representational purpose only

TRICHY: Tamil Desiya Periayakkam has announced a big protest in front of Ponmalai Railway Workshop on May 3 against what it called the discrimination of the railway ministry towards Tamil Nadu. It says that the ministry has been giving preference to people from north India in appointments to vacancies in railway jobs in the state, particularly the Group D posts.

While addressing reporters here on Thursday, Tamil Desiya Periyakkam leader P Maniarasan said that the BJP-led central government has been discriminating against Tamil people in many ways, which include providing employment opportunities to the youths in the state.

The Union government had been neglecting the youths in providing jobs in the 18 public sector undertakings in the state. Only 10% of the youths in the state are given chance while the remaining 90% are from northern state, he alleged.

“Out of the 1,765 candidates who were called for training under the Apprenticeship Act at Ponmalai railway workshop, only 100 were Tamil youths. A total of 300 were inducted in Ponmalai for apprenticeship training, and none of them was from Tamil Nadu. The situation is same in Coimbatore and Chennai as well. Out of the total 2,600 postings, 2,300 candidates were from north India. The Railway Recruitment Cell has been purposely showing discrimination towards the people of the state,” he said.

As many as 3,000 employees are working at Ponmalai railway workshop in Trichy. Of them, 50% are from north India. The proportion should be 90% Tamils and 10% others in the public sector units in the state, he said.

“The entire coaching centres functioning in north India are stealing jobs from Tamil Nadu. Officials and ministers are part of this conspiracy. This has to be stopped. The vacancies in every public sector unit should be filled with 90% of the candidates from the state where the unit is functioning, Maniarasan said.

The Tamil Desiya Periyakkam is organizing the stir to press for its demands. All the like-minded people should participate in the protest safeguard the rights of the Tamil youths, he added.

