Tamil Nadu State Primary Cooperative Employees Union stages demonstration in Thoothukudi

The Hindu

27-06-2025

The members of Tamil Nadu State Primary Cooperative Bank Employees Union staged demonstration in front of the District Collectorate in Thoothukudi on Friday, urging the government to address the demands raised by ration shop employees.
During the demonstration, the district president of the union A. Beniksar and district secretary A. Balamurugan explained their demands in detail. One of the key concerns raised was the delay in distributing the items to cardholders as electronic weighing scales connected through Bluetooth are being used in ration shops. Due to this system, it takes at least 8 to 10 minutes to distribute items to one card holder, resulting in daily limit of only about 50 families being served.
This has led to frequent tensions between the public and the shop employees, often resulting in complaints against the staff. To resolve this, the protestors demanded that Bluetooth based sales either be completely removed or simplified to avoid delays.
They also highlighted that items moved from the consumer goods corporation's warehouse to primary cooperative societies are often underweight, up to 2 to 5 kg of rice and 1 to 2 kg of sugar, toor dal and wheat. They insisted that all items must be supplied in the correct quantity.
Another key demand was to equip all fair price shops with upgraded devices capable of authenticating through both fingerprint and iris recognition, to ensure smoother and more secure distribution.
The members of the union participated in the protest and raised slogans emphasising their demands.