telangana congress leaders resignations

T Congress Leaders to Wait Till Dasara to Resign

The steering committee of T region Congress MPs, MLAs and MLCs met on Friday and decided to submit their resignations if a decision is not taken in favour of a separate state by the Congress high command. This meeting was held by the steering committee in view of the warning issued by TRS leader K T Rama Rao to the Congress and TDP MLAs to resubmit their resignations or face the wrath of the people in the region. The steering committee, which met at the residence of Rajya Sabha MP K Keshava Rao, discussed the strategy to be followed after September 30, when the AICC deadline set for the announcement of its stand on Telangana expires. "A delegation will go to Delhi to meet the AICC leaders before September 30 to issue an ultimatum that the Congress MLAs and MPs would press for the acceptance of the resignations if a positive decision on Telangana is not taken," said senior leader K R Amos. Apart from Keshava Rao, the MPs present included G Vinod, G Sukhender Reddy, Komati Reddy Rajagopal Reddy and N Balaram Naik, ministers Jana Reddy and Basavaraj Saraiah, 12 MLAs and 2 MLCs. Extending full support to the T general strike, the meeting urged the state government not to take repressive measures against the striking employees as the general strike has been peaceful so far. "Arresting the leaders and attempting to crush the movement with police force will provoke the people and lead to unnecessary complications," asserted the leaders in the meeting.  

sakala janula samme

Day One Sakala Janula Samme: Civic Services Affected

Day one of the general strike called by the Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) seeking a separate state was near total in all the state government offices barring the Secretariat. In Hyderabad, work in the transport offices, water board, various offices of the GHMC, government junior colleges and schools was completely paralysed while the medical staff at the government hospitals attended to their duties wearing black badges. Even as the state government preferred not to act on the first day of the strike, the JAC said that their agitation will go on till Telangana is achieved. A two-day closure of the cinema halls in the region has been called for beginning Wednesday while the APSRTC employees are expected to join in the stir on September 19. The strike was near total in about 50 of Singareni collieries spread across four Telangana districts with the 70,000-odd workers (barring 2,500 officers) abstaining from work on Tuesday despite the state bringing them under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (Esma). As a result, production of 1.2 lakh tonnes of coal was lost on Tuesday. Singareni Collieries accounts for 35% of the total thermal power generation in the state and a power crisis could be in the offing if the strike by the coal miners continues for a few more days. Staff of Hyderabad water works, Central Discom, civil supplies and GHMC participated in large numbers hitting the delivery of civic services. In Telangana region, staff in all municipalities joined the strike resulting in total shut down of sanitation works. The state Secretariat in Hyderabad was the only exception with 85% of the total 6,000 staff reporting for work on Tuesday. Sources in the chief minister's office said that Kiran Kumar Reddy is closely monitoring the situation and that a call would be taken as to when to invoke Esma and GO 177 (No Work No Pay) depending on the intensity of the general strike in the next few days.

telangana employees strike

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.

telangana agitation

T-tangle: Govt - Employees Showdown Begins

With massive 'Jana Garjana' meeting held at Karimnagar on 12 September, the bugle has been blown for a major showdown between the state government and 2.4 lakh employees of Telangana with the latter calling for an indefinite general strike 'Sakala Janula Samme' beginning on 13 September (today). As an indication of how the tone and tenor of the agitation is going to be, the TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao warned that the Telangana region would turn into a fireball if the government invoked the Essential Services Maintanance Act (Esma) against even a single employee from the region. Addressing the massive public meeting 'Jana Garjana' in Karimnagar yesterday, KCR said the employees general strike would be a trendsetter in the history of the state as no bus would run, no train would move, no educational institution would open and no production would take place in the Singareni mines. The TRS chief warned that the entire administration would be brought to a screeching halt as they would replicate the Manipur bandh to bring the government to its knees. Pooh-poohing the government’s pressure tactics to apply 'no work no pay' rule to dissuade the employees from embarking on the strike, he thundered: "We would behead ourselves but not give up the Telangana movement. There is no compromise on separate Telangana state." Under the aegis of the Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (TJAC), an umbrella of various state government associations, the T employees have given the call for the "Sakala Janula Samme (mass strike)". "To put it simply, the T employees will not report to work from Tuesday," said T Swamy Goud, president of the Telangana Employees JAC. Although the non-Telangana state government employees of the total strength of 6.38 lakh employees in the state will be working, some citizen services like registration of properties, birth and death related issues handled by GHMC and various municipalities, registration of vehicles are likely to be affected. The strike is expected to be partial in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts and total in the remaining Telangana districts.