Adopting a tough tone, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday renewed his appeal to Telangana's government employees to withdraw their general strike, which, he said, has caused both inconvenience to the general public and losses to the state's exchequer.
Addressing a press conference at the state Secretariat, the Chief Minister took serious note of schools and other educational institutions being forcibly closed by the Telangana activists.
"Nearly 70 lakh students are going to schools in the Telangana region, including in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. I request all the teachers to call the strike off immediately," he said.
Issuing a stern warning against those trying to obstruct the opening of schools, the Chief Minister said that both parents and children are concerned about the continuous shutdown of schools.
"While parents are worried about the future of their children, students are worried about their attendance and syllabus. Nearly 20 to 25 per cent of students in national institutions hail from our state. Therefore, the closure of institutions will be a big disadvantage for them," he said.
The Chief Minister said that the government would adopt a zero-tolerance policy against those openly taking the law into their hands. Referring to the instances of buses being burnt, he said that the miscreants involved in such acts have been identified.
"What the people in Telangana want has been noticed by the Central government. The Prime Minister himself has appealed for a withdrawal of the agitation. Therefore, keeping in view the difficulties being faced by the people in Andhra Pradesh, the strike must be withdrawn immediately," Kiran Kumar Reddy said.
Announcing that the state government would constitute a Group of Ministers to speak to the on-strike unions, the Chief Minister said that the general strike must not be prolonged even after knowing well that the Centre has taken note of it.
"You have given your views. You are a partner of the government, and you must not continue the strike," he said, adding that invitations would be sent to on-strike unions for talks with the Group of Ministers. He also expressed happiness over the National Mazdoor Union's
decision of withdrawing the RTC strike.
The Chief Minister said that the strike has affected agriculture on nearly 70 lakh acres of land which is irrigated by wells and borewells that run on electricity.
"Power generation is getting affected due to the shortage of coal. Although we are trying to buy power and coal from other resources, we are still falling short of about 30 Million Units per day," he said, adding that unless the production of coal improves it is difficult to supply the required amount of power.
Kiran Kumar Reddy said that Monday has been the best day so far during the strike in terms of coal production.
"Today we produced 63,000 MT of coal, but it has to reach 1 lakh MT. We expect that to happen by next week. Once we reach the target, then electricity-related issues can be sorted out," he said.
The Chief Minister said that there will not be any postponement of recruitment drives being taken up by the government. Reiterating that the government would recruit about 1.16 lakh youth, he said that the notification process for this will be completed by December.
"Please don't come on the way of deserving students who are waiting for a long time to get jobs. Don't prevent them from writing competitive examinations," he appealed to Telangana activists.
"If you want to do anything good for Telangana, withdraw the strike immediately," the Chief Minister appealed.
Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, Ministers - Danam Nagender and M Mukesh Goud were also present during the press conference. (INN)