Andhra bifurcation: Seemandhra employees to go on indefinite strike

Hyderabad: Government employees in Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions of Andhra Pradesh on Monday decided to go on indefinite strike from 6 February to oppose the central government’s efforts to table the Telangana bill in parliament.  The employees, who had gone on strike for nearly two months last year to protest the central government’s decision to bifurcate the state, announced a protest plan to coincide with the parliament session beginning this week. Ashok Babu, president of Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers’ (APNGOs) Association, said the strike notice would be served on Chief Secretary PK Mohanty on Tuesday. The employees would stage sit-in at the residences of central ministers and MPs and at the government offices in Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) on 7 and 8 February. APNGOs has also called for three-day shutdown in Seemandhra on 10, 11 and 12 February. In an effort to mount pressure on the central government not to table the Telangana bill in parliament, it also called for ‘chalo Delhi’ on 17, 18 and 19 February. Ashok Babu said the bill rejected by both houses of state legislature should not be tabled in parliament. He said the central government should keep the state united by respecting the will of the people, which he claimed, reflected in the resolutions passed in the assembly and the council rejecting the bill sent by the president. IANS