Owing to their deteriorating health condition, leaders of the A.P. United Teachers’ Federation (UTF), who had launched an indefinite hunger strike on October 18 demanding restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), called off their protest on October 20.
Speaking to the media at the strike venue, UTF president N. Venkateswarlu said the protest was being temporarily put on hold on doctors’ advice, and that the federation would soon resume its fight for restoration for the OPS and take it to its logical conclusion.
He said, riding roughshod over the pleas of the employees and teachers, the government was trying to thrust the Guaranteed Pension Scheme (GPS), which was unacceptable to them.
Mr. Venkateswarlu said there was no truth in the government’s claim that the GPS would be the best option as “it is the middle path” to the OPS and the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
He said if the YSRCP government went ahead with its plan to implement the GPS despite protests by the stakeholders, it might have to pay a heavy price for it in the forthcoming elections.
‘Govt. indifferent’
PDF MLC K.S. Lakshmana Rao slammed the government for what he alleged as its indifference to the constant pleas made by the teacher unions. He said the union leaders had given a strike notification to the Chief Secretary on October 9, informing that they would resort to a hunger strike if the government failed to heed its plea on restoration of the OPS, but there was no response from the other side.
Mr. Lakshmana Rao said this indifferent attitude would cost the government dearly in the days to come. He said the teachers wanted to keep the OPS issue alive and make it an election plank. Since there were other States that had reverted to the OPS and a few others planning to implement it, there should not be any problem for the Andhra Pradesh government to follow suit, he said.
He further said that teachers would undertake a campaign with the slogan, ‘Vote for OPS’, and urged the employees and teachers across the State to vote only for the party that would restore the OPS.
Federation State general secretary K.S.S. Prasad, honorary president K. Srinivasa Rao, treasurer B. Gopi Murthy, secretary S.P. Manohar Kumar, and publicity wing chairman M. Hanumantha Rao were present.
