CS bans rallies at Secretariat

Tells ‘T’ and Seemandhra staff to maintain decorum

As the Telangana and Seemandhra employees continued their competitive sloganeering for and against the division of the State, Chief Secretary P.K. Mohanty asked them to carry out their respective protests without violating decorum in the Secretariat.

Mr. Mohanty convened a meeting with the leaders of both the groups of employees and said they would be allowed to hold peaceful demonstrations only during the lunch hour at the earmarked places and no processions or rallies would be permitted inside the Secretariat. However, Telangana Coordination Committee general secretary M. Narender Rao, later speaking to media persons, condemned the strike by Seemandhra employees saying as it was aimed at stalling Telangana State.

The Seemandhra employees, who said they were not against division but were agitating for their rights and security to their jobs and future of their children, were now demanding the roll back of the decision on State bifurcation.

‘Government biased’

Alleging that the government was biased towards Seemandhra employees, he said as per rules, those on strike should not enter the Secretariat premises and disturb employees who were on duty. But the Chief Secretary advised them to carry out their protests peacefully. “The strike has the backing of the government,” he alleged.

Mr. Narender Rao demanded the arrest of those leaders who were violating rules and disrupting work in the Secretariat and forcing unwilling employees to join the strike.

He also said the ‘Save AP’ meeting proposed by APNGOs Association on September 7 was for gaining control on Hyderabad and they would counter it with a peace rally on the day.

APNGOs’ Association president P. Ashok Babu said it was their right to democratically and peacefully express their views for the cause of United Andhra Pradesh even if some deliberately tried to misrepresent their good intention.