By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Buckling under the pressure, BJP MLA Umesh Sharma Kau on Wednesday issued an apology in the Feb 21 assault on Ajay Naudiyal, Director Uttarakhand Elementary Education.
Naudiyal had received injuries near one of his eyes at the Dehradun-based Directorate, where chairs and missiles were freely exchanged in presence of Kau, who is BJP MLA from Raipur constituency, in the assault that had enraged government employees in the state.
After kau’s apology, various government employees’ associations immediately decided to defer their proposed strike till the BJP MLA decided to withdraw his FIR in the case.
Sanjay Bhaskar, a leader of the joint front of the government employees, also thanked Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami for accepting their demands of issuing standard operating procedure (SOP) in offices and adequate security for them.
The talks between the Uttarakhand government and a group of teachers’ and various other government departments’ associations had remained deadlocked till yesterday in the wake of a strike threat from Feb 25 on their demand of the arrest of ruling BJP MLA Umesh Sharma Kau.
But yesterday, the Front withdrew the demand of arrest of Kau and instead asked him to apologize publicly in front of the media.
The Chief Minister on Monday had directed the Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan to prepare SOPs for the safety of all government employees and asked Director General of Police (DGP) Deepam Seth to ensure adequate security arrangements in government offices.
Meanwhile, police has arrested four persons, including a history-sheeter Kalli, involved in the vandalism and assault at the Directorate of Elementary Education on Saturday.