Telangana strike ends after 42 days without tangible results

The 42-day-long strike by the government employees of Telangana region was withdrawn on Monday evening. About 45,000 employees, who had gone on an indefinite strike on September 13 in support of Telangana state, will be returning to work from Tuesday morning.

The leaders of Telagnana Employees Joint Action Committee announced the end of the strike late on Monday night after 'successful talks' with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy at his camp office.

The main demands accepted by the government include treating the strike period as 'special leave', taking back the contract employees who were sacked for participating in strike and lifting the cases booked against the striking employees and withdrawing the Essential Services Maintenance Act.

The government has also promised to take up the issue of government order 177 with the Andhra Pradesh high court which makes the "no work no pay" rule compulsory for the employees.

TEJAC chairman Swamy Goud and a large number of other leaders met the chief minister after day-long confabulations among themselves as well as talks with the cabinet sub committee headed by Finance Minister A Ramanarayana Reddy.

The TEJAC decided to withdraw the strike following an appeal by Union health minister and All India Congress Committee general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad. He had made the appeal in a statement issued on Sunday and urged the striking employees to return to work in view of the seasons of major festivals of both the Hindu and Muslim communities.

However, withdrawal of strike without achieving any tangible results on the issue of Telangana state led to serious bickering and differences in the ranks of the employees' leaders.

So far the TEJAC had maintained that it will withdraw the strike only after the Central government announces a clear road map for the formation of Telangana state. However, the Central government did not accept the demand. Azad said that it was not possible to give a time line for solving the Telangana issue.

The indefinite strike, which initially involved the teachers, lecturers, workers of the Singareni Collieries and the Road Transport Corporation, had paralysed the administration in Hyderabad and nine other districts of the region.

It was estimated that the strike caused a huge loss of more than Rs 10,000 crore to the state's economy.

Meanwhile , Telangana Joint Action Committee convenor Prof Kodanda Ram said that the employees and other sections of Telangana society can go to strike once again any time for their demand.

TJAC has called upon the people of Telangana to observe November 1 as "Day of Betrayal" as Telangana was merged with Andhra on that day to form Andhra Pradesh state. He said that the people of Telangana will hoist black flags on the day.

TJAC has also urged all the elected representatives of Telangana region, including the ministers, to boycott the AP Formation Day celebrations.