No breakthrough in employees -govt talks - Govt,TEJAC Fail To Find Common Ground In Second Round Of Talks

Another week of uncertainty stares at the Greater Hyderabad residents especially in relation to the education sector as the second round of talks between the Telangana Employees' Joint Action Committee (TEJAC) and the Group of Ministers representing the state government failed on Saturday.While the government claimed that there was some progress,the TEJAC leaders ruled out withdrawing the strike unless the Centre announces a road map for carving a separate T state.  For the first time,the employee unions climbed down a step on their demand of Telangana state and asked the cabinet sub-committee to pass a unanimous resolution in favour of T state either in the assembly or in the state cabinet. When the ministers in the committee pointed out that it will not be possible since assembly and cabinet consists representatives from three regions,the TEJAC leaders compromised further and demanded a clear road map with time limit attached,for carving out Telangana. We will discuss the issue with the chief minister and other colleagues in the cabinet.During the talks we made it clear to the union leaders that Centre is actively pursuing the issue and a decision would be out very soon, said Danam Nagender, minister for labour and member of sub-committee. On the other hand,the T employee unions announced that their main demand of Telangana would continue to be there and wanted conducive environment to continue the talks with the government.With regard to three demands placed before the government,cabinet sub-committee assured the TEJAC that an inquiry has been ordered on the attack on NGOs leader Swamy Goud and legal opinion requested from the advocate general on withdrawal of GO 177 and removal of cases filed on the employees. With deadlock continuing even on the 33rd day of the strike, students across the Telangana region are set to see their academic schedule disrupted even further.With no solution to the issue,colleges and schools may not open from Monday as expected.We already informed our students that colleges will be opened from Monday hoping that the government would find a solution for the strike.Now we are not sure of that, said a private college correspondent.Already students have lost more than one month of classes with the quarterly examinations scheduled before Dasara being postponed indefinitely.Now the half-yearly examinations also hang fire as several schools might find it difficult to complete the syllabus.Meanwhile the chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy intensified his efforts to reopen the schools and colleges in Telangana.He held meetings with senior officials and party MLAs from Telangana and discussed the measures that can be taken to convince the teachers and lecturers to call off their strike.He directed DGP V Dinesh Reddy to provide necessary security to all private colleges who come forward to restart the classes.He told officials that his priority is to reopen the educational institutions at any cost.He also asked Congress affiliated teachers unions to prevail upon their colleagues to call off the strike.Congress supported MLC Mohan Reddy who also heads PRT union has been asked to convince his unionists.We are expecting a breakthrough in a day or two.We are trying all options, said a senior bureaucrat in the chief ministers office. STALEMATE CONTINUES: Deputy chief minister Damodar Raja Narasimha,ministers Mukesh Goud and Danam Nagender hold discussions with leaders of Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (TEJAC) at the Secretariat on Saturday

(Source-toi)