Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy made an emotional appeal to the Telangana groups and employees to call off the ‘Sakula Janula Samme’, the general strike with immediate effect.
Addressing a press conference at the State Secretariat on Tuesday, the Chief Minister said that the strike was causing immense inconvenience to the general public and therefore, it must be withdrawn. “The general strike will not influence the decision to be taken by the Centre on Telangana issue. The Centre is already aware of the feelings and aspirations of Telangana people and there is nothing more that could be achieved from the strike,” he said adding that people of Telangana are suffering due to the strike.
The Chief Minister informed that the state government had to resort to power cuts for two hours in the districts, four hours in mandals and municipalities, eight hours in villages and the cuts might be imposed in the State capital in the next two to three days, if the strike continues. The strike in SCCL has affected the coal production and consequently the thermal power generation in four plants have come to a standstill. Presently, the State is facing a shortage of 6.22 Million Units. He said that the government would be left with no option but to snap the power supply due to shortage.
Kiran Kumar Reddy said that the state government has been trying to export five to lakh metric tonnes of coal and gas from the Centre and other states.
The Chief Minister said that the general strike has put the career of about 30 lakh students at stake besides causing problems for the farmers and commuters. The administration too is unable to function properly due to the general strike. He admitted that the government was not in a position to either take up new welfare schemes or even implement the existing ones.
“The state government has no say over the decision on Telangana. The issue is pending with the Centre and the process to resolve the same has already begun,” Kiran Kumar Reddy said. “In view of the inconvenience being caused to the common man, I appeal them to withdraw the strike immediately,” he said.
Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, Finance Minister Anam Ramnarayan Reddy and Chief Secretary SV Prasad were also present during the media conference. However, the Chief Minister refused to take questions from the media saying that his answers might lead to a controversy and therefore, he wanted to confine himself to making an appeal for withdrawal of strike. (INN)
