State staff suspend Telangana strike

Lily

B.R
Staff member
Hyderabad: Telangana, where a 42-day-long strike by state government employees paralysed governance, was returning to normality with the Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (TEJAC) announcing the suspension of the stir.

Government offices including the state secretariat and offices in Hyderabad and nine other districts of the region returned to hustle and bustle as more than 45,000 employees resumed work.

The TEJAC made the announcement following a nine-point agreement with the government following marathon talks yesterday.

The government has agreed to treat the duration of the strike as special leave and also pay one month's salary as advance and approach the high court to grant exemption to the employees for the ‘no work no pay' rule.

The government has also accepted the demand for lifting the Essential Services Maintenance Act and withdraw the cases against the striking employees. The government will also cancel the transfers announced during the strike and take back all the contract employees sacked for participating in the strike.

However, there was no mention of the Telangana state issue in the agreement for which the employees had gone on strike from September 13.

Festival season

With this the Telangana Joint Action Committee has also announced the formal end of the indefinite mass strike saying the new plan of action will be announced later.

Speaking to the media, the TEJAC president Swami Goud said that the strike was only being suspended in view of the hardships caused to the ordinary people as well as the festival season. "The agitation will continue and we are ready to go on strike whenever needed," he said.

He expressed disappointment that Congress leaders from the Telangana region failed to resign and participate in the agitation. "If they had done so, the central government would have been forced to take a decision on Telangana."

The state government succeeded in persuading the employees to withdraw their strike by pointing out that the decision on Telangana state will have to be taken by the central government and not by the state.

Meanwile, K. Raghu, the convenor the Joint Action Committee of the electricity employees ended his 72-hour-long fast on the appeal of the other leaders of the agitation.

The Telangana Joint Action Committee convenor Kodanda Ram said that while the employees have suspended their strike, the agitation will continue in one form or another. He called for observing the Andhra Pradesh Formation Day on November 1 as "betrayal day".
 
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