By IANS
Hyderabad : Hundreds of activists of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) Monday tried to lay siege around the Andhra Pradesh secretariat here demanding repatriation of non-local government employees from Telangana region.
Around 600 protestors including legislators belonging to the party were arrested in front of the main gate of the secretariat near the Hussain Sagar Lake. TRS president and former union minister K. Chandrasekhara Rao did not take part in the protest.
Wearing pink scarves and shouting slogans of 'Jai Telangana', TRS activists reached the secretariat in batches but were pushed back by large number of police force deployed around the building.
Protestors squatting on the road outside the secretariat were taken to police stations. Scores of others were arrested at Indira Park and RTC junction, about two kilometres from the secretariat.
The scuffles between the protestors and the police led to a traffic jam in the busy area.
TRS leaders alleged that several activists were arrested on their way to Hyderabad.
The TRS is demanding separate statehood for Telangana region comprising 10 districts including Hyderabad. It now wants the implementation of a government order (GO 610) issued two decades ago to send back all non-local government employees in the area to their respective regions.
Although the order was issued in 1985 by the then Telugu Desam government in line with a presidential order of 1975 on employment for locals in the region, successive governments did not implement it.
Though the Congress government fixed June 30 as the deadline for repatriation of all non-local government employees, the Andhra Pradesh state administrative tribunal stayed the order issued by the chief secretary.
Employees from Andhra and Rayalseema regions are reluctant to go back to their native places. The war of words between the TRS, Congress and TDP leaders of other regions has also added fuel to the fire.
Inside the secretariat, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy told newsmen Monday that his government is committed to implementing GO 610.
He said that more than 7,000 non-local employees working in Hyderabad have been identified and the process to send them back has begun.
Minister D. Srinivas, who heads the sub-committee, told newsmen that the deadline for those opting for voluntary repatriation has been extended to July 15.
He said 7,089 non-local employees had been identified for repatriation. They include 3,162 police personnel and 3,927 from other departments. TRS, however, wants an immediate repatriation.
Alleging that the government is not sincere in implementing GO 610, TRS president K. Chandrasekhara Rao warned that his party would launch an agitation like the one staged recently by the Gujjar community in Rajasthan.
TRS also claims that the number of non-local employees in Telangana is much higher than what the government says.
The people of Telangana were promised preference in employment following the death of over 300 people in the early 1970s. The TRS revived the movement for a separate Telangana state six years ago.