Telangana staff to get salaries soon

HYDERABAD: The Telangana government employees who participated in the 42-day strike as part of the Sakala Janula Samme will soon get their salaries. The file relating to their salaries is in circulation in the Finance Department and the government would take a decision on the matter this week.Chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy announced this on the floor of the Assembly Monday. Responding to a TRS demand, the chief minister said the High Court gave its nod for payment of salaries on March 15 and the file is in circulation in the Finance Department.On lifting of cases filed against Telangana student agitators, the chief minister said the government was ready to lift all the cases against students who participated in Telangana movement; the government’s prosecutors would approach the courts on a case by case basis.When TRS members demanded that all cases be dropped at one go with one government order, the chief minister said such a GO would not be valid in the court of law. When TRS recalled the precedent of cases lifted against people who agitated after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, the chief minister said the law had been changed since. Public prosecutors are now required to file individual affidavits seeking the lifting of each case, he said. At any rate, Kiran Kumar said that almost all the cases had already been lifted and only a few cases were pending. He would not specify the time frame for lifting these as that was a matter that involved the courts.TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu demanded that the government should allow students to take competitive examinations irrespective of the cases standing against them. As lifting cases would take some time, the government should allow the students to sit for competitive examinations. Members of the CPI, CPM and BJP too demanded immediate lifting of cases against T-students.