Hundreds of protesters from Left parties were apprehended from different parts of the city, during the demonstrations demanding pay rise for municipal workers across Telangana State.
About 50 to 60 protesters including CPI and CPI (M) state secretaries Chada Venkat Reddy and T. Veerabhadram were arrested from the MG Bus Station within minutes after the dharna began at 6 a.m.
The rally taken out from Narayanguda too was disrupted and hundreds of leaders and cadre were apprehended by the police who swooped down in big numbers, informed Mr. Venkat Reddy after being released.
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Arrests were also made from other locations such as L.B.Nagar, and Uppal, he said.
The agitations and rallies were organised as part of the bandh call given by the Municipal Workers JAC and supported by the Left parties. Apart from CPI and CPI (M), the two groups of CPML-New Democracy, SUCI, MCPI, and RSP- Forward Block took part in the protests.
Mr. Venkat Reddy said that the bandh was complete in the districts outside Hyderabad. He condemned Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao's statement on Thursday with regard to pay rise to GHMC workers alone as ambiguous, vindictive and autocratic.
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Mr. Veerabhadram alleged that about 700 to 800 GHMC workers were not allowed to join their duties on Friday, for participating in the strike. A meeting at CPI state office later in the evening will decide the future course of action, Mr. Reddy informed.