HYDERABAD: The Sakalajanula Samme beginning on September 13 is expected to bring the Telangana movement back on the centre-stage after being in a state of limbo for quite some time.To set the stage ready for people from all sections of society to be part of the strike, employees of the state government in particular, the Telangana Rasthra Samithi (TRS) will organise a massive public meeting, Telangana Jana Garjana, at Karimnagar on Sept12, to blow the conch for a sort of showdown with the state government and the Centre on the demand for statehood for Telangana.TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao will arrive in Karimnagar from Hyderabad in a convoy of 300 vehicles.And, as announced by Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) chairman M Kodandaram, there will be a total shutdown in Telangana region from Sept 13.The crucial meeting of the TJAc on the Sakalajanula Samme was held at the Telangana Film Chamber hall in Secunderabad on Sept 9 where leaders discussed several aspects of the agitation.o attract national attention to the movement, the TJAC has given a call to all the organisations supporting the cause to arrive at specific centres in the district and mandal headquarters to hold protests and rallies.The strikers plan to force the closure of state government offices, educational institutions and courts until the Centre makes an announcement on separate Telangana.According to Telangana Film Chamber president Vijayender Reddy, all the 450 cinema halls in Telangana districts will remain shut on Sept 14 and 15 due to which the state government would incur loss in taxes to the tune of `4 crore.Meanwhile, the TJAC pilloried the Congress for the lip sympathy it was showing for the cause.“Without taking an active part in the agitation, what purpose would empty announcements of solidarity with Sakalajanula Samme serve,” asked Kodandaram and said the Congress owes an explanation to the people on when it would announce T and the way in which it is basing its process ‘consultations’ with leaders of Telangana and Seemandhra leaders.The Employees JAC is also interested in participating in the strike despite the pressure and the measures that the governnment might initiate to water down the strike.They said the strike would continue until the political leadership opens its eyes to the reality of T demand.karimnagarAhead of the Telangana Jana Garjana meeting on September 12 in Karimnagar, elaborate arrangements are being made by the TJAC.The hustle and bustle of the meeting has already caught the town which is the hot-bed of the Telangana stir. The meeting will be the second of its kind for the Telangana cause after the first one called the Simha Garjana in 2001. TRS MLAs Etela Rajender, Koppula Eswar, KT Rama Rao and MLC Naradasu Laxman Rao are busy supervising the arrangements. Preparations for the meeting began a week ago with posters displayed across the district, bike rallies being taken out and meeting of Telangana leaders and activists on the Samme, said TRS leader Naradasu Laxman Rao.“We are expecting lakhs of people from north Telangana districts to gather at this public meeting,” he explained. Meanwhile, people from all the sections of soceity are gearing up for the upcoming strike in the district.Karimnagar Bar association president and advocate Basa Satyanarayana said that all the advocates have would boycott court duties and participate in the samme. According to Recognized Private Schools Association president Yadagiri Shekar Rao, they were participating in the samme but the schools would not remain shut keeping in view the loss of working days for students.He added that schools would bolster the T cause by conducting programmes like rallies, manavaharam, elocution and essay writing competitions over the Telangana regions injustices from September 13.The Non-Gazetted Employees Association has already served strike notice to the district collector and is publicising the rally on a huge scale.The workers of Singareni Collieries Company have also given the strike notice to their management.The RTC employees Union will participate in the Samme from September 19.However, the authorities are dissuading the employees, especially contract workers, to refrain from taking part in the strike due to heavy losses incurred by the organization in the recent past.Meanwhile, the district administration has received directions from the government to make alternative arrangements on running run essential services like health, gas and etc. during the strike NalgondaHere the scene is different.People are not willing to participate in the strike because they think they are the ultimate sufferers.They say that the ministers, MLAs and MPs had resigned long ago but the central government has still not responded to people’s demand on Telangana. Mudi Reddy Narayana Reddy, a government employee and resident of Miryalaguda says, the strike is only useful for leaders who will celebrate during the strike.“the strike will only benefit them and we become the sufferers,” he says and adds that students do not get scholarships, senior citizens and retired employees are denied pension. “a separate Telangana will not take birth with government employees’ strikes but with agitations from the ruling party,” Narayana Reddy explains. N Rama Narsaiah, a teach at a government school in Nalgonda says: “ Due to the strike call given by the JAc, schools also have to remain shut from Sept 13 which is a loss to the students” and urges that exemption should be given to schools.Pointing out at how the strike would hit the supply of essential commodities, S Padma, a housewife, opines that with strike comes financial burden where the prices of essentials will rise exorbitantly.“everything will come to a standstill,” she adds.Even political parties’ leaders in the district are of the same opinion.They say that the Samme will cause a loss to people.Doctors have not yet taken a decision on participating in the strike, keeping in view the escalating number of diseases recorded in the agency areas.AdilabadPeople in this northern most district are in no mood to listen to any conciliatory talk.The employees too are very eager to take part in the strike even though they face the prospect of losing wages for the period of strike.They appear to be keen on adopting frugal means of livelihood to set example others.For instance, some employees want to stay way from shopping, visiting bars or and using vehicles to cut down the expenditure spent on fuel. The Employees JAC district president M Rajeswar Reddy said that the employees want to save money and use it for making the movement more intense by taking part in rasta rokos and road blockades. According to him, staff of power utility, teachers, Class IV employees and drivers of government vehicles would be on strike to immobilise the government.WarangalIn view of the Samme, employees and teachers are gearing up to compel the government to take a pro-Telangana stand.About 40,000 employees and teachers will take part in the Samme. Apart from employees and teachers, even doctors have decided to take part in the strike.But doctors assure that free medical camps will be held on the hospitals’ premises.However, the TJAC has exempted essential services from being hit by the Samme.“There will be no restriction on the agencies that provide essential services,” said TNGO district convener K Ravinder Reddy said.The revenue department is taking measures to ensure there is no problem in supply of essential commodities and other services in the district.“We have taken enough care to ensure supply of essential commodities,” said district revenue officer Seshadri.But people of Warangal appear to have reconciled to a prolonged phase of agitation and are taking the announcements of Telangana shut down with a pinch of salt. “I am sure we will be affected.No government department will be allowed to function.Pensioners would not get their pension.There will be traffic snarls.We will have to live with them,” a retired teacher Akula Narender in Hanmakonda said.There are sections of society that are opposing the bandhs though they full endorse the demand for Telangana state.“As the agitation has been going on for a long period, may be we could do away with bandhs,” a newspaper agent Srihari said, adding that the solution to the present unrest is formation of a separate state.KhammamAs many as 25,000 employees from class IV to officer cadre and law department would participate in Sakalajanula Samme.From September 19 teachers, RTC and Singareni employees would join in the strike.People in the town say with all the government employees boycotting the offices, the basic civic services including transportation, health and sanitation would be hit.K Ramchandra Rao, a resident of Khammam, opined that the transportation would be certainly hit due to the strike, causing inconvenience to the commuters.“If health officials will go on strike in a time when cases of monsoon ailments including viral fevers, dengue and malaria are rampant in the district, the public health will certainly go for a toss,” he said.Meanwhile, the employees joint action committee said that as many as 25,000 employees from class IV to officers including law officials would participate in the Sakalajanula Samme beginning from Tuesday.Teachers and the employees of RTC and Singareni collieries would join in the agitation from September 19, they said.D Narasimha Rao, another resident of Khammam town, said that many applications of the beneficiaries of various schemes which are under official scrutiny including those seeking crop loans, will not be cleared until the agitation is over.The Telangana employees joint action committee convener K Ranga Raju said that the employees of all departments in the district would participate in the strike and they would stall the district administration MahaboobnagarStage is set for sakala janula samme in this district from where TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2009.The entire administration is likely to come to a grinding halt with employees, political parties and students supporting the strike call. To prepare the employees and other sections of society for the strike, Employees JAC chairman V Swamy Goud held talks with the employees and told them that it was now or never for Telangana.With Nagam Janardhan Reddy too taking a plunge in the agitation after forming Telagnana Nagara, it appears the strike would have a great impact on the government.The police too are in a hyper active mode.The department is deploying additional forces besides the two companies of paramilitary forces.
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