By IANS
Hyderabad : The row over repatriation of non-local government employees from Telangana region took a new turn Thursday when the Andhra Pradesh Administrative Tribunal stayed implementation of a government order transferring 159 police constables.
The tribunal's order came on an appeal by the constables challenging the government orders. The hearing on the appeal was adjourned to next week.
The government had transferred the employees under Government Order (GO) 610, which calls for repatriation of all non-local government employees from Telangana, which comprises 10 districts including Hyderabad.
The implementation of the order has been hanging fire for over two decades due to serious differences between Telangana and the other two regions of the state.
The stay comes even as opposition parties, especially the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), are mounting pressure on the government to implement GO 610.
The family members of the police constables staged a protest in Hyderabad. They demanded that the services of the constables be retained in the state capital.
Stepping up its controversial 'quit Telangana' campaign, the TRS Thursday started counselling for non-local employees to persuade them to return to their native places. TRS leaders went to police and irrigation departments and counselled the employees from Andhra and Rayalseema regions to return to their respective zones.
TRS legislator N. Narasimha Reddy claimed that non-local employees were ready to return to their native places but the political parties were creating hurdles in the implementation of GO.
Taking strong exception to the campaign, the Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers' Association has threatened to stage statewide protests on June 25. Alleging that the TRS was mentally harassing them, the association leaders said they planned to stage a sit-in before the offices of all district collectors.
TRS leader Harish Rao, however, said if the repatriation of non-local employees was not completed, his party would lay siege to the state secretariat.
The government had recently announced plans to transfer 3,000 policemen from Telangana to their respective regions.
GO 610 was issued in 1985 by the then Telugu Desam Party government to implement the six-point formula and the presidential order on reservation of jobs for locals in Telangana region.
Leaders of Andhra and Rayalseema regions including those belonging to the ruling Congress party are opposing the implementation of the order on the ground that this would lead to tension among people of different regions.