The 42-day-old strike by the Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (TEJAC) came to an end after the government conceded all its nine major demands following a hard bargain.
It signed a memorandum of understanding with the government in the presence of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and agreed that the employees would resume duty from Tuesday. The MoU was preceded by marathon negotiations that commenced at 12 noon and concluded at the Chief Minister's Camp Office here late in the night.
The TEJAC leaders later met Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) chairman M. Kodandaram, who claimed that the employees had only suspended their agitation. Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, a member of the Cabinet sub-committee holding discussions with the strikers, however, announced that they had decided to call off their strike.
Earlier, the TEJAC leaders — K. Swamy Goud, Srinivas Goud, Vithal, Deviprasad, and Narender Rao — held talks with Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi and later with the Group of Ministers headed by Deputy Chief Minister C. Damodar Rajanarsimha.
The government made it clear that the demand for a separate Telangana was within the Centre's purview and the Chief Minister had already conveyed the sentiments of the people during his recent visit to New Delhi. The government agreed to treat the employees' absence during the strike period as “on duty,” and appropriate leave including half-pay leave would be sanctioned. The demand would, however, be considered after taking the Advocate-General's advice.
The government said it had enforced the ‘no work, no pay' principle. However, to avoid hardship to employees in view of the coming festivals, a special advance would be granted to the extent of salary lost on account of participation in the strike but subject to a maximum of one month's salary. The amount would be recovered subsequently.
