AP: Government teachers to join stir from today

HYDERABAD: For the third consecutive day, pro-Telangana activists and government employees, students, political parties and other organisations continued their protests across the region demanding for a separate Telangana state. Even as the state government is gearing up to initiate action against employees who are remaining absent to work, government teachers are preparing to join the Sakala Janula Samme from Friday.
While government teachers numbering about 70,000 in Telangana have decided to lock down schools, lecturers also have expressed their solidarity and are likely to join the stir from Friday. The Telangana Recognised Private Schools' Managements Association has also decided to shut their schools from Friday and organise rallies to create awareness on the need for a separate state. Several private educational institutions have already shut down to express their solidarity for the stir. The teachers and lecturers organisations have decided to conduct special classes for students, after concluding the strike.Coal production got hit for the third day as mines of the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd remained shut. Losses have gone up to about Rs. 100 crore due to halt in production of about 1.6 lakh MT coal per day. Cinema halls in Telangana remained closed for the second consecutive day as part of the twoday shutdown supporting the Samme. Several government offices also remained closed causing inconvenience to people visiting the offices. Employees from Telangana working in the Board of Intermediate Education and Commissionarate of Collegiate Education boycotted their duties and staged demonstrations at their office premises at Nampally in Hyderabad on Thursday.