OC JAC demands EWS reservations in AP

Kurnool: With the Telangana State implementing EWS reservation for forward communities, the Reddy Association has stepped up the demand for its implementation in Andhra Pradesh also. OC JAC held a dharna near the collectorate here on Friday and performed a Milk Abhishek for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekara Rao.

Joint action committee for OC (OCJAC) state president Birru Pratap Reddy sought immediate implementation of the 10 per cent Economic Weaker Section (EWS) reservation in AP. After the protest dharna, the activists organised Palabhisekham at the flex of Prime Minister Modi, thanking him for having introduced this quota system in central government jobs.

Addressing the gathering, Pratap Reddy said while this was implemented elsewhere, AP has not taken such a step. He also demanded the setting up of a Reddy Corporation in the state.

He warned the government of a hunger strike if the demand is not met. “We would call a ‘Chalo Amaravathi’ protest in January last week to press this demand,” he said.

JAC steering committee leaders Manohar, Hemalath Reddy, Reddy Sankshema Sangam state media cell convener T Pratap Reddy and others participated in the protest.

Meanwhile, AP Congress Committee working president Dr N. Tulasi Reddy requested the YSRC government to implement the EWS reservation. He wrote a letter to Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, saying unemployed youths among the upper castes not entitled now to reservation facility are having difficulty getting jobs. “The Centre had given 10 per cent reservation in central government schools as also in jobs to the upper caste poor via the 103rd amendment to the Constitution, he noted.

He recalled that the Congress and the YSR Congress had supported the constitutional amendment bill in Parliament. Several state governments have already implemented it. The Telangana government was preparing to implement this. The AP government was implementing EWS reservations in schools but not in job placements, he said.

Tulasireddy said the state government had recently stated it would issue special orders for this purpose. “Poor youths from the upper castes have recently lost 26,807 jobs in the hirings done for village/ward volunteers by the state government, as also in filling 12,589 vacancies in Secretariat and 971 vacancies in the medical sector. This, he said, was unfair and unconstitutional.

He appealed to the state government to issue orders implementing the 10 per cent EWS reservation on the lines of the 103rd Constitutional amendment.