Over 26,000 employees of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation on Thursday resumed their duties by exempting emergency services from the ongoing "Sakala Janula Samme".
The GHMC employees connected to the Health And Sanitation wing joined the general strike on Tuesday midnight, in protest against the arrest of union leaders who had participated in a protest demanding a separate Telangana.
However, GHMC Commissioner M T Krishna Babu held an hour-long meeting with the union leaders on Thursday, and convinced them to resume their duties.
The Commissioner has personally apologised to all the employees for the treatment meted out to their leaders on Tuesday.
He also agreed to the demand of the GHMC-JAC asking for returning the services of Vigilance Inspector Ramesh who reportedly identified the leaders who participated in the strike.
Further, the GHMC Commissioner also agreed to write to the police department seeking stern action against the officials who had shifted the GHMC employees' union leaders to various police stations after they were arrested on Tuesday.
Later, addressing a press conference, the Bhagyanagar Municipal Employees' Union president K Shankar, vice-president G Malliarjun and additional general secretary Vinay Kapoor said that the GHMC employees would resume duties with immediate effect by attending to all emergency services including health and sanitation.
However, the GHMC-JAC clarified that they would continue to support the general strike.
GHMC Commissioner Krishna Babu said that nearly 10,000 metric tonnes of garbage were accumulated in the twin cities in the last 2 days due to the strike, and that it would take more than 2 days to clear the garbage. (INN)