Officials of the Intelligence department reportedly failed to alert the police on the expected rush for ‘Chalo Vijayawada’, organised by the PRC Sadhana Samithi, here on Thursday.
Employees of various government departments, led by NGOs and other associations, called for ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ protesting reverse PRC, cancellation of CPS and other demands.
The samiti leaders said that they would take a rally and conduct meeting on BRTS Road with five lakh employees, and applied for police permission. However, police denied permission citing COVID norms and other reasons.
But, more than 30,000 employees participated in ‘Chalo Vijayawada’. The samiti leaders and employees conducted rally and organised a meeting. With several employees turning up for the programme, the police remained mute spectators.
According to the sources, thousands of employees of various departments reached the city two days before ‘Chalo Vijayawada’. Though the District Collectors gave instructions to the heads of the departments not to sanction leave to the staff and not to leave the district headquarters, many employees were absent for duty on Thursday.
The district officials did not conduct any coordination meetings on ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ in advance, and the staff managed to reach Vijayawada as patient attendants, farmers, labourers and even beggars, but the Intelligence officials failed to sense the rush.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy enquired about ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ programme and other developments on Friday. The Centre had also enquired about the protest programme and on the employees’ proposed strike from February 6.
However, the police said that leaders of various political parties joined the employees, in ‘Chalo Vijayawada’ on Thursday.
No case had been registered against the protestors, though Section 144, Section 30 of Police Act, COVID-19 protocol and Service Conduct Rules were violated on the pretext of COVID-19.
