The AP government employees have decided to go ahead with the action plan for the protest. They said that they would continue to wear black badges and attend to duties from March 10 to April 5.

The employees had initially planned the black badge protest from March 9 but differed so as to discuss the issue with the executive committee meeting of the joint action committee. The JAC had asked the state government to give minutes of the March 7 meeting in writing.

The cabinet subcommittee and the officials met the employees representatives on March 7 and agreed to clear the arrears amounting to Rs 3,000 crore by end of March. The employees have asked the officials to give those minutes in writing.

However, the employees alleged that there was ambiguity in the minutes given in writing and hence they have decided to continue their black badge agitation. JAC chairman Bopparaju Venkateswarlu told media persons that the government had not honoured the 50-page memorandum given to chief secretary K S Jawahar Reddy on February 13.

Bopparaju said that there was no clarity from the government on the demands raised by the employees. Stating that the ministers and officials were accepting the demands during the talks but were not admitting them in writing.

The employees said that they have another round of meetings with the chief secretary on March 16. They would continue to hold the black badges and wait for the government to respond, while attending the talks. They further said that they would also attend the talks convened by the cabinet subcommittee, but felt that it was not worth meeting.