Power employees call off strike after meeting AP CM Kiran Kumar Reddy

, Oct 10: The protesting power sector

of Seemandhra on Thursday called off their strike after holding talks at the secretariat with the

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.

According to reports, 50, 000 employees have decided to returned to work after they met Reddy today.

Some reports said that electricity employees of Seemandhra called off their five-day strike in view of a cyclonic storm 'Phailan' threat.

The leaders of Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Seemandhra electricity employees told reporters that they were 'temporarily' suspending the strike on humanitarian grounds.

One of the leaders R Saibaba said if necessary they would resume the strike to pressurize the Centre to keep the state united.

During the talks, the Chief Minister appealed to the employees to end the strike as it was causing severe hardships to people and also in view of the threat to coastal region from severe cyclonic storm in Bay of Bengal.

At the same time, the decision of power employees to call off five day strike has come as a major respite from power woes for people of Seemandhra.

They lodged the protest after demanding the Centre to take back its decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.

50, 000 employees have decided to returned to work after they met Reddy.

The JAC leader thanked 30,000 regular and 15,000 contract employees of the power sector for taking part in the indefinite strike. He also thanked the people for bearing with hardships during the strike period and said they would continue the agitation till their demand for a united state was not met.

The strike pushed 13 coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema districts into darkness, affecting movement of trains and emergency services in hospitals besides hampering supply to Hyderabad city.

The two main power generating stations -- Narla Tata Rao Thermal Power Station at Vijayawada and Rayalaseema Thermal Power Station at Kadapa -- remained shut for five days resulting in a shortfall of 2,810 MW of power.

The Srisailam right bank hydro power station also did not function, leading to loss of another 770 MW.

This largely affected power supply leading to blackouts, particularly in Seemandhra districts, but officials took adequate measures to maintain the grid balance and avert a possible collapse of the southern power grid.

OneIndia News

(With agency inputs)