With only 3 weeks left for the Diwali festival, the failure to announce a bonus for workers employed in Tamil Nadu government public sector undertakings is disappointing, PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss has said.
As Diwali is set to be celebrated across the country on November 8, Anbumani Ramadoss has raised questions over the fact that a bonus has still not been announced for Tamil Nadu public sector workers.
In the statement he has issued, he said:
Diwali is one of the most widely celebrated festivals in Tamil Nadu. Diwali for the year 2026 will be celebrated on November 8. To make this easier, it is customary to provide advance salary to those working in government offices, and advance salary along with overtime pay to those employed in public sector undertakings such as transport corporations and the electricity department. Only if these are provided at least a month before Diwali can workers use them to buy new clothes for their families and get ready for the festival.
However, with only 23 days left until the 2026 Diwali festival, no announcements regarding it have come from the Tamil Nadu government. Normally, talks are held between the managements of public sector undertakings and trade unions a month before Diwali. Only then can the amount of bonus be decided by consensus and paid a month in advance. In recent times, without holding any discussions with trade unions, the government has been unilaterally announcing and providing a 20% bonus to C and D category workers employed in the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, state transport corporations, the Civil Supplies Corporation, and Aavin, and a bonus ranging from 8.33% to 10% to workers employed in other public sector undertakings, depending on the financial condition of those institutions.
In Tamil Nadu, for the past 22 years since 2004, only a maximum of 20% bonus has been paid. The bonus for public sector employees is not calculated based on their total salary. Instead, a salary ceiling is fixed for bonus calculation, and 20% bonus is paid based on the annual average of that amount. Accordingly, while the bonus paid ranges from a minimum of Rs. 7,000 to a maximum of only Rs. 16,800, employees have been demanding that the bonus amount be increased in view of rising prices. However, the Tamil Nadu government has not accepted this.
A worker’s family of 4 or 5 people would not have enough to celebrate the festival of Deepam, whether it is Rs. 7,000 or Rs. 16,800. Even if a family wants to celebrate Diwali very simply, it would require at least Rs. 25,000. That is why the PMK has been insisting that for the Diwali festival, 30%, that is, Rs. 25,210, should be given as bonus pay; this should be provided in advance, without discrimination, in all public sector enterprises, to everyone, including temporary employees and permanent employees.
When it is unavoidable to provide bonus for the Deepavali festival, it is not clear why the Tamil Nadu government is hesitant to announce and disburse it in advance. In this matter, the present government should not follow the same approach adopted by previous governments. By needlessly delaying and paying the bonus at the last minute, the families of employees in public sector undertakings are unable to celebrate Deepavali joyfully. Since the Central Government has already announced that 78 days’ wages will be paid as bonus to the 11.40 lakh employees working in the railways, the Tamil Nadu government should not delay.
Therefore, a 30% Diwali bonus should be provided to C and D category workers employed in all public sector undertakings of the Tamil Nadu government. The Tamil Nadu government should immediately provide the same amount of bonus to all kinds of workers employed in all public sector undertakings, without any distinction between profit-making companies, loss-making companies, permanent employees, temporary employees, and outsourcing workers,” he said.