Hyderabad, August 27: BRS Legislature Party Deputy Leader T. Harish Rao was detained by police on Thursday while attending a protest by government employees at the Hanamkonda District Collectorate.

The protest was organised by the Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers (TNGOs) Association to press for the release of six pending Dearness Allowance (DA) instalments, implementation of the Pay Revision Commission (PRC), settlement of retirement benefits and resolution of other employee-related issues.

Tension prevailed at the Collectorate after a scuffle broke out between police and BRS cadres. The BRS alleged that police behaved rudely with former minister Harish Rao and detained him without allowing him to board a vehicle. Police later escorted him on foot from the Collectorate to the police station.

Earlier, Harish Rao had been placed under house arrest at his Kokapet residence in Hyderabad ahead of his planned visit to Warangal Government Polytechnic College. He intended to meet students protesting against Government Order 97, which proposes the merger of polytechnics with Young India Skills University.

However, Harish Rao managed to leave his residence and reached Hanamkonda to extend solidarity to the protesting employees. He was later detained by police while he was scheduled to proceed to Warangal.

Speaking to the media before his detention, Harish Rao alleged that the Revanth Reddy government had failed to release six pending DA instalments for government employees. He demanded that the government immediately address the employees’ grievances.

Harish Rao also accused the Congress government of failing to fulfil its electoral promise of replacing the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) with the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). He said that nearly three years after coming to power, the government had neither abolished the CPS nor taken a decision on the PRC.

He further criticised the government over the Employees Health Scheme (EHS), stating that the previous BRS government had introduced the scheme with a one per cent employee contribution. According to Harish Rao, the Congress government increased the contribution to 1.5 per cent, with deductions being made from the salaries of both spouses when both are government employees.

Harish Rao assured government employees of the BRS’s full support for their legitimate demands and urged the state government to resolve the pending issues without further delay.