Even as the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa had recently announced that Prohibition will be implemented in the state “in a phased manner,” workers of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) staged a demonstration in Coimbatore on Friday, seeking salary hike.

Following questions from the opposition regarding her announcement on prohibition, Jayalalithaa assured that she would definitely implement a complete ban. She had previously ordered the closure of 500 TASMAC outlets in the state.

With the situation being such, workers of TASMAC demanded that their pay scale be fixed at Rs. 18,000 for basic level workers. The members also stated that they should be termed as government employees.

“The government has announced that shops will be closed, and we request to place TASMAC workers of closed shops in government jobs so that the families of the workers are not left in the lurch,” said a protester.

Members of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) and other associations also participated in the protest.