The 58-day-old strike by the village revenue assistants (VRAs) will continue as IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao gave no specific assurance on their demands for implementation of pay scales and job security when he invited their leaders for negotiations on Tuesday.
This was decided at a meeting of the joint action committee of VRAs to explain to district level leaders of the committee the outcome of talks with Mr. Rao.
The co-convenor of the committee V. Ramulu said it was decided that the agitation will be intensified if the government did not issue orders conceding the demands before Dasara. He said Mr. Rao only gave an assurance that the demands will be looked into, but there was no reference to the issue of government orders. He only kept asking the participants at the meeting to trust him and give the government some more time to resolve their demands.
Such assurance on the demands of VRAs was also given by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao in the Assembly but there was no follow-up action.
Mr. Ramulu recalled the government’s indefference towards the 58-day strike during which three VRAs committed suicide and several others died due to heart break.
