More than four lakh government employees is on strike work from Monday midnight in protest against the move to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh as the talks between the cabinet sub-committee and APNGO Association representatives failed.
The government employees’ representatives refused to heed to deputy chief minister Damodar Rajanarasimha’s plea to defer the stir in view of Independence Day celebrations and decided to go ahead with the indefinite strike, APNGOs Association president P Ashok Babu said at the Secretariat here.
However, the association assured the deputy CM that the employees would not stall Independence Day celebrations but would continue their stir till the Centre withdraws its proposal to split the state. With more than four lakh Seemandhra employees going on strike, governance in the state is completely become standstill. Public health, sanitation, revenue collection, and transport sectors are paralysed.
“We will show the strength of Seemandhra employees and continue our agitation till the Centre withdraws its decision to divide the state. How can they (Centre) say that Hyderabad belong to Telangana when 60% of taxes are coming from the Seemandhra region. We don’t want anybody’s sympathy, we only want fair share” said Ashok Babu . He said that employees working in Hyderabad would not join indefinite strike, but boycott their duties.
Bus services across Seemandhra region will come to a halt as RTC employees unions are also joining the strike. Government employees are now planning for a complete shutdown to pressure the Centre to review its decision on bifurcation.
At Secretariat here, employees from Seemandhra region took out a blind-fold rally and later tried to gherao ministers Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Raghuveera Reddy and Pithani Satyanarayana demanding their resignations.
Similarly, AP revenue employees also announced indefinite strike from Monday midnight and said its members would not make arrangements for Independence Day celebrations in 13 districts. Employees associations also decided to request all public sector undertakings in the state to participate in the strike.
In response to the Seemandhra employees’ indefinite strike, Telangana protagonists on Monday decided to resort to ‘Gandhigiri’. Shelving their counter-strike plan, the Telangana Employees’ JAC has resolved to form a ‘Sadbhavana Team’ to assuage their agitating Seemandhra counterparts.
“We think there is no point in launching a counter agitation when the Seemandhra employees are determined to go on strike. As it would aggravate the situation, we have decided to form a team to pacify if there are any clashes between Seemandhra and Telangana employees during the strike,” said Katti Venkatswamy, co-chairman of Telangana Employees’ JAC, after a meeting of Telangana leaders.
Meanwhile, Telangana Political Joint Action Committee (TJAC) launched a ‘Sadbhavana Yatra’ to allay fears of Seemandhra people living Hyderabad. As part of the first leg of the yatra, the TJAC leaders took out a rally in Malkajgiri. “There is a misconception that the Seemandhra people would be troubled after Telangana state is formed. The purpose of the yatra is to debunk this myth,” said M Kodandaram, TJAC chairman.
