GUNTUR: Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy said on Wednesday that nobody on behalf of the government has given a statement on bringing the TNGOs employee associations under the purview of Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). The employees association had submitted a strike notice to the state government demanding separate Telangana. Any service that comes under ESMA will not be able to go on strike.
Speaking to mediapersons on Wednesday during his tour of the district, Kiran Kumar said that a group of ministers constituted by him were holding discussions with the TNGO leaders to convince them to recall their decision on strike. Responding to a statement that unlike the present government, the former chief minister late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had never allowed the APSRTC to increase fares despite a hike in diesel prices several times during his tenure, the chief minister said that it was precisely due to that reason that the RTC fell into a `725 crore debt. It was under compulsion that the government allowed the RTC fare hike. He added that they are mulling purchasing 600 new buses in the state soon. Asked about the closing of welfare hostels which has less than 100 inmates, Reddy said that they were building about 100 integrated hostels in the state among which 70 were nearing completion. Responding to another query on rising price of BT cotton seeds, the chief minister said that since all neighbouring states had increased the prices, there was a danger that the seed companies will not sell here where the price is less. About pending fee reimbursements, he said the government has already distributed `3,500 crore under fee reimbursement scheme in the state. He added that they will take stern action against colleges which are not allowing students to study in the name of pending tuition fee. He also said he will direct contractors to complete the works of irrigation projects in a stipulated time frame.