TMC (Moopanar) president G.K. Vasan on Sunday urged the State government to extend the benefits of the Tamil Nadu Assured Pension Scheme (TAPS), recently introduced for government employees, to panchayat secretaries. He pointed to the protests being organised by the association of panchayat secretaries for the past five days, pressing a slew of demands, and condemned their detention by the police. Mr. Vasan blamed the government for not promptly addressing the demands of the protesting panchayat secretaries and said this situation had led to the disruption of the day-to-day administrative work at the village level. ,
In view of the upcoming Pongal festival, the State government should hold talks with the association of panchayat secretaries and consider their demand for extending the benefits of TAPS. The State government should also provide ₹15,000 as the minimum pension for retired panchayat secretaries, he added.
