Government employees unions joint action committee-Amaravati chairman Bopparaju Venkateswarlu, on Friday said that the employees were not ready to buy the lies of the government. The employees started their black badges protest on Friday after they failed to get clear assurances from the government on their demands.

The JAC had set the deadline on Wednesday evening asking the government to give in writing the minutes of the meeting it had with the cabinet subcommittee and the officials on Tuesday evening. It was at this meeting that the government had promised to clear all arrears to the employees by the end of March. The arrears amounted to Rs 3,000 crore, the government said.

The employees held a protest at the engineer-in-chief of the Panchayat Raj department in Vijayawada as part of their protest plan on Friday. Addressing the employees, Bopparaju Venkateswarlu said that they would go ahead with their original action plan of protest till March 20.

The JAC chairman asked the government to pay the arrears to all government employees as demanded by the employees and assured by the government at the joint meeting. He said that the employees in the district have lost their confidence in the government. They were not ready to accept even if the state leadership explained them, he said.

The employees down the line have understood how the government was betraying them. The talks held with the government have become a time pass affair, he said and alleged that either the ministers or the senior officials were taking the demands seriously.

Bopparaju Venkateswarlu said that the employees want their arrears cleared by the government by the end of this month as promised. He said that they have no option but to go on strike unless the government takes the issues seriously and resolves them on priority basis.