Nearly 1.8 million UP government employees went on a flash strike on Thursday, hours after Rajya Sabha took up the quota in promotion bill. The anti-reservation workforce warned the stir would continue, beginning with a statewide strike on Friday. Essential services such as power, health, education and transport would be exempted, said Sarvajan Hitaiy Sanrakshan Samiti president Shailendra Dubey.   

But the million-strong pro-reservation workforce announced it would offset the loss with overtime work. “We will work four hours more to ensure people don’t face problems,” said Avadhesh Kumar Verma of Arakshan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti.