Government staff strike in Telangana from Sep 13

The steering committee of Telangana employees' joint action committee (JAC) Saturday decided to serve the strike notice on the government Monday.

The employees also decided to stage lunch-hour protests from Monday to mobilise support for the strike, which was earlier deferred twice. The strike was originally planned Aug 17 to demand that the central government initiate the process for carving out a Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh. The JAC deferred the strike to Sep 6 following appeals from Muslim groups to postpone it in view of the holy month of Ramzan.

The JAC once again postponed the strike in view of Ganesh festivities, which began Sep 1 and will continue till Sep 11. The JAC, comprising political groups, said the strike would signal resumption of the  movement on a bigger scale. It hoped teachers and employees of public sector undertakings would also join the strike.

JAC convenor M. Kodandaram said the strike would bring the administration to halt, affect services like electricity supply and transport while schools and colleges would also shut down.

The JAC plans to organise a huge public meeting "Jana Garjana" at Karimnagar Sep 12. All cinema halls in the region would be shut Sep 14 and 15. There would be a blockade of national highways Sep 17 and rail blockade Sep 22. Telangana activists will lay siege to the offices of the district collectors Sep 25. As part of final phase of its agitation, the JAC plans to lay siege to Hyderabad in October.