The A.P. Gazetted Officers and Non-Gazetted officers agitating against the decision to bifurcate the State went on a flash strike on Saturday in Seemandhra region, infuriated by the remarks of TRS chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao that they would have no option but to leave Hyderabad.
Thousands of Seemandhra employees in the Secretariat boycotted duties on Saturday to register their protest against the decision of the Congress Working Committee to bifurcate the State.
Led by Secretariat Seemandhra Employees Forum, they took out a rally and staged a sit-in in front of the block housing the Chief Minister's office demanding the CWC and UPA Coordination Committee to take back their decision.
Raising slogans that Hyderabad belonged to all and seeking justice for employees and their families, the employees, including women, poured out their anger against the CWC. They accused it of taking a unilateral decision without consulting employees from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema who made Hyderabad their home since decades.
They gheraoed Minister S. Sailajanath and former minister Gade Venkata Reddy and deplored KCR for his ‘provocative’ remarks. Forum Secretary K.V. Krishnaiah said that all the 3,500 Seemandhra employees working in the Secretariat struck work on Saturday and would intensify their agitation if the Congress did not reconsider its decision. They submitted a representation to the Chief Secretary and later said they would strike work on Monday too.
Describing Union Ministers K.S. Rao and K. Chiranjeevi as pseudo political leaders, they wanted them to resign in line with the sentiments of the people in their region. All other MPs, MLAs and Ministers should submit their resignations to the proper authority and not Digvijay Singh if they were sincere, they said.
Several employees gave vent to their ire against KCR and said he should leave Hyderabad first because he hailed from Vizianagaram. “Since two generations, we are living in Hyderabad and made it our home. For all the service we rendered, we are now being asked to pack our bags and leave,” said a woman employee.
The State NGOs Executive committee will meet in Vijayawada with other employees associations on Sunday to chalk out their future course of action and coordinate their agitation programmes.
There was an altercation between APNGOs and TNGOs at Pay and Accounts office here when both the groups raised counter slogans and the police intervened to defuse the situation.
