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Minister approved the stand taken and asked the circle to
dispose of the matter as per rules. Because the Minister
earlier was a popular Labour leader the matter ended
amicably as far as I was concerned!

My first brush with the Unions:

Close on the heels of the above controversy an agitation
was planned by the Unions towards the end of November

1982 for non settlement of OTA bills .That was due to
insufficiency of funds..The Hyderabad winter is quite
severe and particularly for a person like me accustomed to
the heat and humidity even in winter months Hyderabad
proved menacingly cold. I developed fever and had such a
severe nonstop head ache I felt terribly overwhelmed by
my condition. I had to keep at hom .On the office front the
agitation started. The PMG thought I was avoiding to face
the strike by the unions and therefore remained indoors for
the duration of strike. On the contrary my office APMG
took me to consult a doctor close by who prescribed some
medicines. It took two days for the temperature to decrease
and head ache to lose its severity. In the meantime my
colleague in charge of Head quarters job in circle office
was deputed to go to my home and satisfy for himself if
after all I was really unwell!

By now I learned the art of managing strikes. I developed
contacts with the City Police Commissioner and whenever
the unions raised their banner and their collective voice I
used to request for stationing police force within a striking
distance. If after all reasonable efforts to persuade the
striking staff failed I had to lean back on police help. I used
to move from different centers of staff concentration raising
slogans and preventing loyal workers from entering office
On such occasions the loyal staff duly escorted by police
force would retrieve mail bags and move them to centers
opened at different locations for the loyal staff to attend

work and dispose of mails to the extent possible. After a
week or so the striking staff would lose steam and return to

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