Telangana: TGEJAC to hold lunch-hour demonstration on May 15, Maha Dharna on June 9

Also considers working only during work hours, organising human chains and mass lunches in front of government offices, State-wide pen-down strikes and mass casual leave programmes to press for their demands

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Employees, Gazetted Officers, Teachers, Workers and Pensioners Joint Action Committee (TGEJAC) has decided to hold a lunch-hour demonstration sporting black badges on May 15 and organise a Maha Dharna on June 9 if the State government fails to fulfil the promises made to employees.

The TGEJAC said it would also consider working only during work hours, organising human chains and mass lunches in front of government offices, State-wide pen-down strikes and mass casual leave programmes to press for their demands.

These decisions were taken at the day-long extensive meeting of TGEJAC held at Sundarayya Vignana Bhavan here on Sunday. The meeting was convened to discuss the long-pending issues of employees. Leaders from 33 districts, Hyderabad city, Secretariat committee and 206 affiliated union leaders of TGEJAC participated.

TGEJAC chairman Maram Jagadishwar and secretary general Eluri Sreenivasa Rao said the government’s indifference and negligence in resolving employees’ issues were pushing 13.31 lakh families into crisis. Even 18 months after the Congress government came to power, it had shown no sincerity in addressing employees issues.

The Cabinet Sub-Committee, which was formed seven months ago, had not convened a meeting so far. The foremost priority among the demands placed before the government was clearance of pending bills worth Rs 10,000 crore, they said.

It was inhumane to withhold the hard-earned savings of employee families, meant for their immediate and long-term needs. The non-availability of funds for children education, marriages, medical emergencies and housing was causing severe mental and physical distress, they said at the meeting.

During a meeting on October 24 last year, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had assured them that pending bills would be cleared within 15 days. Similarly, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had stated that Rs 650 crore would be allocated every month starting from April 2025 to clear the pending bills. However, in April, not even Rs 5 crore was allocated, they pointed out.

The term of the PRC Committee constituted for pay revision expired one-and-half year ago. The government had not obtained the report yet. The report should be obtained and pay revision with a 51 per cent fitment, including the pending five DAs, should be announced, they demanded.