The Hindu Business Line : TN Govt servants prepare for a different strike

Water is a big issue in this election, but in the Tirunelveli-Kanyakumari belt on Saturday evening, the rain gods decided to bless the area. — Bijoy Ghosh

Kanyakumari , May 3

THE 13-lakh odd Government employees of Tamil Nadu are preparing themselves for a second phase of strike ... but this time around they will not be striking work, as they did last year, only to be dealt with rather severely by the Jayalalithaa Government, which had taken the unprecedented step of dismissing over 1.7 lakh employees.

If the anger, resentment and frustration of the bulk of government employees, including teachers and professors in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu, is any indication, this group is getting ready to strike at the AIADMK-led Front through the powerful weapon of their vote.

Whether it is the Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) or the Manonmaniam Sundaranar (MS) University of Tirunelvelli, one is a little taken aback to note the level of anger and resentment that has welled up among the academic community against the Tamil Nadu Government. It is with a lot of anguish that a couple of professors, on the verge of retirement, explained to Business Line the huge dent that their retirement benefits will have - around Rs 2.7 lakh - thanks to the changes in the computation of their retirement package introduced by the present Government.

"Take it from us that no government employee, his/her family, friends or even distant relatives are going to vote for the AIADMK or any of its allies. After having given the best years of my life - all of 33 years - to this profession, just imagine how I feel to be robbed of Rs 2.7 lakh of my money. I will certainly cast my vote against the AIADMK," said an MKU professor.

An MS University professor said that the sense of anger and anguish among the teaching community is so huge that many of the teachers are actively campaigning against the ruling party and its ally, the BJP, in this election. "For the first time, some of the teachers have started to go out into the field to actively work for the DPA (DMK led Democratic Progressive Alliance) candidates. Of course they are worried about repressive measures from the present Government, so what they are doing is taking advantage of the vacation period to go to areas where they are not known. For example, somebody from MKU or MS University would work in North Arcot and vice versa."

At the retail outlet run for a self-help group in Dindigul district, a woman assistant town planning officer, who has come there to pick up a Rs 15 meal packet, has no hesitation in saying she would vote "against the AIADMK."

Add to this the drought situation and parched fields, the distressed farmers, the unemployed youth and both the urban and rural women carrying out a virtual battle to organise drinking and other water requirements of their families, this is one belt of India that is neither shining nor feeling good.

Whether it is Madurai or Tirunelvelli cities or the entire stretch of NH 7 that runs south from Madurai down to the southernmost tip of Kanyakumari, you see rows or rows of gaudy coloured, cheap plastic pots dominating the landscape ... in the streets, on the markets and in homes. Environmentalists never tire of pointing out that future wars will be fought on water. But one thing is certain; whether it is Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu or Karnataka, water is already emerging as the most important issue of this election. As one villager in the Tiruchendur constituency points out, "We can't blame the gods for the failure of the monsoons ... we can't see them physically ... but we can punish those who are ruling us and who have failed to make any alternative arrangements for us."

On environmental grounds, one can only hail the compulsory rain water harvesting (RWH) ushered in by the Jayalalithaa Government on the `rather late than never' principle. But all over southern Tamil Nadu, and particularly in the smaller towns and villages, this is being held against her, because the owners of even the smallest houses have had to dish out at least Rs 1,000 to put an RWH contraption in place.

As one farmer in Tiruchendur constituency put it, "In those days, when the rain gods were kind and agriculture used to be a profitable activity, my parents built a big house. Now to set up RWH in this house, I need at least a few thousand rupees. Where am I going to find that money, when it has become difficult even to put together two decent meals for my family? I had to borrow money at 5 per cent interest a month to do this, because the electricity department threatened to cut off our electricity if we did not do RWH."

It is obvious that had the rains come after the RWH had been done, the people could have reaped a dividend and forgotten the initial outlay. But with the women having to still walk for a km or two to fetch water for the house, the discontent has only increased.

But then every cloud has a silver lining. Suresh, a farmer who owns two acres of land in Kamalapuram village, about 16 km from Kodai Road, is a Christian and will not support the AIADMK. He has a host of complaints, the primary one being about there being no irrigation facility for his farm.

While holding forth on how the DPA had the chance of winning "a minimum of 30 to 35 seats", all of a sudden, striking a philosophic note he says, "But things could change dramatically if we get a cyclone or continuous rain for a few days. If people's water problem gets solved, then they might think and vote differently."

Hardly 36 hours after the AIADMK chief, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, campaigned in the Tirunelveli and Tiruchendur constituencies, the skies literally opened up on Saturday evening to bring a heavy spell of sharp showers in Kanyakumari. The manager of our hotel - Shingar International - who has to shell out Rs 10,500 for a tanker load of 2 lakh litres of water, could hardly stop smiling.

Response can be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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