Hyderabad, Oct 24 : Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president K. T. Rama Rao on Thursday demanded the reinstatement of 160 Agriculture Extension Officers (AEOs) suspended by the Telangana government.

The former minister slammed the Congress government for suspending the AEOs and termed the action "atrocious."

Rama Rao took to 'X' to condemn the suspension of AEOs for their non-participation in the Digital Crop Survey.

Referring to their protest, the BRS leader remarked that everyone was suffering under Congress rule. He said from common people to government employees, all have taken to the streets.

KTR, as the BRS working president is popularly known, said that while Congress leader Rahul Gandhi promised two lakh jobs, the Revanth Reddy government is snatching up even the available ones.

He alleged that employees were being suspended on false pretences and they were being targeted for demanding their rights.

Demanding the reinstatement of all those suspended, he said that the government should hold talks with the employees across the state and find solutions to their problems.

The agriculture department has suspended 160 AEOs citing various reasons. The AEO associations said that they are being victimised for refusing to take part in the digital crop survey conducted recently by the Centre. The AEOs had refused to be part of the survey citing a shortage of staff.

However, during the talks with the agriculture department officials on Wednesday, the AEOs agreed to participate in the trial of the survey. They agreed to download the digital crop survey application from Thursday.

The breakthrough was achieved during the talks between Agriculture Director B. Gopi and the AEOs. They were told that they need not upload 3 -10 photographs of the land parcels and visit remote villages during the survey.

The AEOs demanded that their suspension be revoked. The officials assured that they will look into the demand.

Leaders of the opposition BRS alleged that the government is burdening the AEOs with additional responsibilities and harassing them. Former minister T. Harish Rao said that in states like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Odisha, private and outsourced employees are conducting the digital survey.

/IANS