Congress extends support to TJAC job fight

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president N Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government immediately fill over two lakh vacancies in various departments. He was speaking to media persons after Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) chairman Prof Kodandaram and other leaders met him at Gandhi Bhavan on Friday seeking support for ‘Koluvulakai Kotlaata’ (fight for jobs) programme being held on December 4 at Saroornagar Stadium.

Uttam Kumar Reddy announced that the Congress would support the TJAC and all other groups who were fighting for unemployed youth. He said hundreds of youth laid down their lives for the statehood while lakhs of students risked their careers for Telangana. He said the TRS came to power on the promise of providing one job for each family. However, even after three-and-a-half years, the TRS government failed to honour the commitment it made with jobless youth.

The TPCC chief pointed out that after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, as many as 5,23,673 posts came to Telangana State. Of them, 3,15,849 employees were working with different departments. Therefore, there were 2,53,826 vacancies. He said nearly 46,000 employees had retired during the last three years. Further, nearly 50,000 posts were vacant in different corporations. Therefore, presently more than three lakh posts were lying vacant, Uttam Kumar said. He reminded that Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, while giving a speech in Assembly immediately after coming to power in 2014, had promised to fill 1,07,744 posts in one year.

But, the government had filled not more than 16,000 jobs in the last three years. He accused the Chief Minister of deliberately delaying the recruitments. He also alleged that KCR was more focussed on event management, than governance. He said that the Chief Minister was wasting time in the name of review meetings on different events. However, Chandrashekar Rao was not having time to check the unemployment situation in Telangana or review the conditions of jobless youth. He warned that the Congress would intensify its agitation if the TRS government continued to neglect the jobless youth. The TPCC chief said the government did not fill vacancies in the newly created 21 districts, 125 mandals and 25 new revenue divisions. Similarly, thousands of posts are lying vacant in Gurukul Schools and other newly-created departments.

Stating that the Congress was all set to return to power in 2019, Uttam Kumar Reddy promised that the Congress government would create lakhs of jobs in both government and private sectors. Further, he said all unemployed youth would be given a monthly allowance of Rs 3,000 until they got a job. Meanwhile, Kodandaram thanked Uttam Kumar Reddy for extending support to ‘Koluvulakai Kotlaata’.

Kodandaram, speaking to the media, lashed out at the KCR-led State government. He alleged that the government had become intolerant to any criticism and the Chief Minister was acting like a despot.

“The government is not tolerating dissent and gave permission to the agitation only after a fight,” Kodandaram said, adding that they would hold the protest programme and a meeting on December 4, despite conspiracies of the government to disturb it. TPCC working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, vice-president Ponnam Prabhakar, Leader of Opposition in Council Shabbir Ali and other leaders were also present.