The Hindu : Front Page : Autorickshaw strike called off ; talks today

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Monday, Nov 05, 2007
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Autorickshaw strike called off ; talks today

Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD: The six-day autorickshaw strike was called off here on Sunday night with union leaders deciding to resolve the issue by holding discussions with Transport Minister Kanna Laxminarayana on Monday morning.

Among the events that led to the strike being called off was a meeting of a five-member delegation of several political parties with Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy and urging him to initiate discussions with the striking auto unions.

They wanted the Government to take a pro-active step and solve the problems of the auto drivers, also ending inconvenience to the public.

CM’s assurance

The delegation that met Dr. Reddy on Sunday comprised K. Ramakrishna, CPI State Executive member, B. Tulasi Das of the CPI (M), Nayani Narasimha Reddy, TRS MLA, K. Govardhan of CPI (ML-New Democracy) and V. Lakshminarasaiah representing the CPI(ML).

Assuring the delegation that the Government did not have any intention of harassing the poor auto drivers, the Chief Minister said that the Government was willing to find an early solution to their problems, according to a press release from the Chief Minister’s Office here on Sunday evening.

Even after calling off their strike, the unions maintained that they were opposed to digital meters.

The Anti-Auto Digital Meters Struggle Committee General Secretary, B. Venkatesham, said the future course of the protest would depend on how the Transport Minister reacted to their problems, at their meeting on Monday.

Ballot held

Earlier in the day, Jana Chaitanya Vedika, a public awareness forum conducted a public ballot. State president of the forum, V. Lakshman Reddy, in a press release said a half-a-dozen teams of volunteers had stationed themselves at important junctions in the twin cities and collected opinion from 18,000 road-users on installation of digital meters.

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