TN bus strike: Govt allocates Rs 750 crore to transport dept

B Sivakumar | TNN | Jan 10, 2018, 14:36 IST

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government allocated Rs 750 crore to the transport department on Wednesday - on the seventh day of the transport workers strike.

"The government is sanctioning Rs 750 crore to the transport department so that the department employees who have retired till November 30, 2017 can get their retirement benefits. The Rs 750 crore will be a Pongal gift for the employees," chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced in the assembly.

Palaniswami said the AIADMK government had sanctioned a total of Rs 5,138.50 crore to the department between 2011 and 2017. "In 2017-18 alone, the government sanctioned 1,689.38 crore," he said.

Palaniswami asked transport employees to call off their strike. But the workers unions refused to call it off and wanted the government to fulfil their demands including salary hike.