Postal work comes to a standstill

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, DEC. 5. Post offices throughout Andhra Pradesh remained closed, disrupting the despatch and delivery of mail, as about 50,000 postal employees went on an indefinite strike today on a charter of demands.

The booking and delivery of speed post articles, the despatch and delivery of money orders, savings bank account remained paralysed. The Postal department said it kept open main offices but the transactions in these places were at the minimum.

The Postal Joint Council of Action (JCA) - A.P.Circle, said the strike was total in the State. No postal work was carried out in the entire Circle.

In a joint statement issued here, the JCA convenors, Mr. Ch. V.Rama Rao, Mr. D.Kishan Rao and Ch. Nagabhushanam, said all 40 sorting offices, 25 mail carrying sections by trains, 104 Head Post Offices, 2,357 sub-post offices and 13,707 branch post offices remained closed. All mail motor vans too came to a standstill and no mail was delivered or moved due to the strike. The strike which was 98 per cent throughout the country was total in the State, according to them.

A meeting was held at Dak Sadan in the afternoon which was addressed by chairman, Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, Mr. T. Narasimham, secretary, All India Trade Union Congress - A.P., Mr. T. Lakshmi Naryana, and the general secretary, Accountant General Office, Mr. V. Nageswara Rao. Meetings were also organised at Khairtabad Post Office, Kachiguda Post Office, Jubilee Post Office, Hyderabad GPO and MMS Hyderabad office.

The circle JCA which met on Tuesday condemned the adamant attitude of Central Government saying that the employees were forced to go on a strike. The agitating employees are demanding immediate implementation of agreement reached between Central JCA leaders and the Communication Minister on May 1. The Circle JCA also decided to hold daily meetings at Dak Sadan, as part of the strike, till their demands were met.

Strike a success: CITU

Meanwhile, the CITU claimed that the strike was successful.

In a statement, the CITU general secretary, Mr. S. Veeraiah, congratulated the JCA and said the interest of the public would be affected if the Central Government remained adamant. He urged the employees to continue their struggle unitedly until the Government came forward to resolve their demands in the larger national interest.

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Section  : Southern States
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