Hyderabad: Life remains crippled in about half of Andhra Pradesh including Hyderabad as about 8.5 lakh staff members of various government departments and other allied agencies have been striking work seeking statehood for Telangana.Normal life in 10 districts of Telangana has almost come to a halt with public transportation going off track.
About 10,000 buses plying on the roads of Telangana have remained in bus depots and the inter district transportation has come to a halt. Even the auto rickshaws remained off the roads and petrol pumps remained partially closed on Saturday.
With the Telangana joint action committee calling for a two-day “rail roko” from Saturday, the public transport link between South and North India is likely to remain muted.
Over 200 trains scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Telangana were cancelled in view of the two-day rail blockade called by Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) to demand separate statehood for the region, authorities said on Thursday.
According to a statement from South Central Railway, 55 express and 88 passenger trains have been cancelled.
The railway authorities have also partially cancelled 63 trains, including 33 express trains. They have diverted 55 trains and rescheduled four, which pass through the region.
The rail blockade has also led to cancellation of all 222 MMTS (Multi-Modal Transport System) services in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and 102 DHMU (Diesel Hydraulic Multiple Unit) trains in other parts of Telangana.
The workers at Singareni Collieries, one of the biggest coal assets in South India, have been on a strike for 11 days affecting coal supplies to several power generation units in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The impact of drop in coal supply is already being felt with generation dropping in many state-run units.
Meanwhile, the JAC is now working on further intensifying the strike. “The 11-day strike seems to have not shown any impact on the Centre. We have no option but to take up militant movement for achieving statehood to the region. That does not mean we will take up violent movement,” M Kodandaram, chairman of the JAC, said.
The strike is, however, having a major impact on the political equations in the state.
Congress and TDP MLAs and MPs from Telangana now find themselves pushed to a corner. While the Congress leaders are still not able to get the nod of the high command to join the movement, TDP leaders are not being accepted by the people of Telangana.
The TDP is accused of playing a “double-game” by fielding its leaders in both Andhra and Telangana by supporting two different slogans - separate Telangana and united AP.
