Sakula janula samme: Andhra govt’s threat to sack goes in vain

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The decision of the Andhra Pradesh government to sack contract employees, who participated in the on-going ‘sakula janula samme’ despite a salary-cut warning, also failed to make an impact as the stir entered the ninth day on Wednesday.

The government's plan to make the striking teachers return to schools by advancing the Dussehra vacation by five days, from September 22, also backfired with the teachers continuing with their strike. The government was thus forced to reverse its decision and stick to the earlier vacation dates, from September 27.

If the vacations were advanced to September 22, about 1.70 lakh government teachers who are on strike would have to report for duty on Wednesday. Otherwise, the entire holiday period would be counted as loss-of-pay.

Despite this being prominently highlighted by the media, the teachers adopted a defiant stand and decided to continue with their strike, though it means that they will lose their salaries and the Dussehra holidays.

On Wednesday, T-employees from the Electricity and Revenue departments also jointed the strike. The Electricity employees made it clear that they would not attend their duties except for emergency cases.

All professional colleges and majority of private schools in the T-region also remained closed on Wednesday.

Though there were prohibitory orders in the city, employees of various departments organised dharnas and rallies in support of the strike at various places in the city and the nine Telangana districts. Telangana employees of the Secretariat demonstrated in front of the main gate of the Secretariat on Wednesday defying prohibitory orders.

RTC buses meanwhile remained off the roads for the third day on Wednesday as the employees refused to join their duties even after the management threatened to remove the contract workers, who were participating in the strike.

The Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) reiterated that the strike would not be called off until the Centre announced the formation of a Telangana state.

The TJAC leaders also appealed to the Seema-Andhra employees of RTC to cooperate with the strike and not run buses in the Telangana region.

On Wednesday there was a huge rush for local and MMTS trains in the city, which were operated with additional bogies for the benefit of the public.