T Employees Strike: Govt Invokes ESMA, GO 177

To cope up with the strike call given by state government employees of the Telangana region, the government has invoked ESMA (Essential Services Maintanance Act) and GO 177, which states the no work no pay rule.

In order to ensure that essential services are not affected because of the general strike, the state has invoked Esma in about 38 departments including health, GHMC and civic bodies, Hyderabad Water Board, various discoms and sanitation department. In a clever move, the state has also brought Singareni Collaries, which has about 70,000 employees, under Esma.

According to state government sources, despite the existence of GO 177 and Esma, many employees from Telangana are likely to abstain from work. "Our intention by invoking Esma and no work no pay rule is to ensure that a large number of employees are deterred from joining in the general strike as under Esma, the services of the abstaining employee can be terminated while GO 177 would ensure no pay if they do not come to work," said a senior official.

Meanwhile, the State government directed all T district collectors to act firmly against the striking employees. It has advised the Collectors to send daily report to the Secretariat about who are participating in the protest programmes, who are leading the strike and who are obstructing the employees from attending duties. It has also suggested that the Collectors should not allow any protest programme in any government office and those who participate in "ata-pata" programmes also should be punished under the available mis-conduct rules.