Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) activists laid siege to employment exchanges and other government offices across the Kerala on Monday to protest against the government move to raise the retirement age of State government employees.The activists raised slogans accusing the United Democratic Front (UDF) government of denying jobs to thousands of unemployed youth in the State and warning it of grave consequences if it went ahead with the move to peg the age of superannuation higher.
In Thiruvananthapuram, the DYFI activists marched to the Secretariat and held a sit-in. The march was inaugurated by DYFI State secretariat member I.B. Satheesh. At Kattakkada in the district, DYFI central committee member K.S. Sunil Kumar inaugurated the march to the local employment exchange.
In Ernakulam, DYFI State secretary T.V. Rajesh, MLA, inaugurated the march to the Kanayannur taluk office. State joint secretary S. Sathyapalan inaugurated a march to the Payyannur employment exchange in Kannur. In Thrissur, the march was inaugurated by secretariat member T.K. Vasu, in Pathanamthitta by State vice-president N. Sajikumar, and in Malappuram by secretariat member V.P. Rajeena.
In a statement DYFI State President M.B. Rajesh, MP, and T V Rajesh called upon the government to give up the move to increase the retirement age and warned it of strong agitation if it did not do so.