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The indefinite strike in Telangana region had a crippling impact on the entire region on Monday, the seventh day of the agitation, as more than fifty thousand employees of the Road Transport Corporation joined the other striking employees and teachers of the State Government.
With more than 8,500 buses going off the road in Hyderabad and the other nine districts of the State to press for the demand for a separate Telangana State, the public transport system has come to a standstill. This is in addition to the strike by the Government employees, teachers and all other sections of the society in Telangana. Both the Government and the private schools and colleges were also closed.
To add to the woes of the Government, Telangana supporters have also intensified their stir by blocking the National Highways. National Highway No. 7 which linked Adilabad district with Nagpur in Maharashtra and National Highway No. 9 linking Hyderabad to Mumbai, were blocked by Telangana supporters led by TRS MLA K Tarakarama Rao and TRS MP Vijayshanti and MLA Harish Rao respectively.
The links between Andhra and Telangana were also cut off in Nalgonda and Khammam districts as thousands of supporters demonstrated sit-ins on highways, resulting the traffic between Krishna district of Andhra and Khammam and Nalgonda districts coming to a grinding halt. Revolutionary folk singer Ghaddar was arrested when he was going to block the highway linking Hyderabad to Rayalaseema at Alampur in Mahbubnagar district.
Due to the RTC employees’ strike, the entire public transport system collapsed in the region. Striking employees locked the bus depots and bus stands at many places, including Nizamabad. The strike has affected 85 depots and three workshops of the RTC across Telangana. To bring the situation under control, the State Government has lifted the ban on plying of seven-seater autos in the city limits. It has also reduced the permit fee for the private buses to run as stage carriers to mere `100.
The situation in Hyderabad took a turn for worse with the students of Osmania University and Nizam College clashing with the police leading to lathi-charge, use of teargas shell and firing in the air to foil the rallies of the students. While the students of Osmania University wanted to take out the rally to the State Secretariat in support of the indefinite strike, the Nizam College students wanted to express their solidarity with the professors, who were on a hunger strike. Violence erupted in the Basheerbagh area when police stopped the students’ rally and the infuriated students indulged in heavy stone-pelting at the police and also targeted cars parked near the Nizam College grounds.
Police chased the students into the hostel and brutally beat them up. The incident left scores of students badly injured. Students of Osmania University pelted stones at police and the paramilitary forces and they retaliated by using teargas shells and open fired in the air. All the political parties including the Telagnana Congress MPs have strongly condemned the use of force against the students and demanded the release of the arrested Telangana leaders.
Congress MP K Keshav Rao, Jagannadham, K Rajgopal Reddy and others demanded immediate release of all the Telangana leaders and payment of compensation to the students injured in the police lathicharge. They also criticised Chief Minister N Kirankumar Reddy for making provocative statements against Telangana. Condeming the CM’s statement that if the indefinite strike leads to shortage of electricity, power cut will be imposed only on Telangana.
Meanwhile, the Telangana Joint Action Committee convener, Kodanda Ram, said that the Centre will have to come up with a date when the Telangana State will be formed. “The indefinite strike will continue till we achieve our goal,” he told the media in Hyderabad on Monday.
With more than 8,500 buses going off the road in Hyderabad and the other nine districts of the State to press for the demand for a separate Telangana State, the public transport system has come to a standstill. This is in addition to the strike by the Government employees, teachers and all other sections of the society in Telangana. Both the Government and the private schools and colleges were also closed.
To add to the woes of the Government, Telangana supporters have also intensified their stir by blocking the National Highways. National Highway No. 7 which linked Adilabad district with Nagpur in Maharashtra and National Highway No. 9 linking Hyderabad to Mumbai, were blocked by Telangana supporters led by TRS MLA K Tarakarama Rao and TRS MP Vijayshanti and MLA Harish Rao respectively.
The links between Andhra and Telangana were also cut off in Nalgonda and Khammam districts as thousands of supporters demonstrated sit-ins on highways, resulting the traffic between Krishna district of Andhra and Khammam and Nalgonda districts coming to a grinding halt. Revolutionary folk singer Ghaddar was arrested when he was going to block the highway linking Hyderabad to Rayalaseema at Alampur in Mahbubnagar district.
Due to the RTC employees’ strike, the entire public transport system collapsed in the region. Striking employees locked the bus depots and bus stands at many places, including Nizamabad. The strike has affected 85 depots and three workshops of the RTC across Telangana. To bring the situation under control, the State Government has lifted the ban on plying of seven-seater autos in the city limits. It has also reduced the permit fee for the private buses to run as stage carriers to mere `100.
The situation in Hyderabad took a turn for worse with the students of Osmania University and Nizam College clashing with the police leading to lathi-charge, use of teargas shell and firing in the air to foil the rallies of the students. While the students of Osmania University wanted to take out the rally to the State Secretariat in support of the indefinite strike, the Nizam College students wanted to express their solidarity with the professors, who were on a hunger strike. Violence erupted in the Basheerbagh area when police stopped the students’ rally and the infuriated students indulged in heavy stone-pelting at the police and also targeted cars parked near the Nizam College grounds.
Police chased the students into the hostel and brutally beat them up. The incident left scores of students badly injured. Students of Osmania University pelted stones at police and the paramilitary forces and they retaliated by using teargas shells and open fired in the air. All the political parties including the Telagnana Congress MPs have strongly condemned the use of force against the students and demanded the release of the arrested Telangana leaders.
Congress MP K Keshav Rao, Jagannadham, K Rajgopal Reddy and others demanded immediate release of all the Telangana leaders and payment of compensation to the students injured in the police lathicharge. They also criticised Chief Minister N Kirankumar Reddy for making provocative statements against Telangana. Condeming the CM’s statement that if the indefinite strike leads to shortage of electricity, power cut will be imposed only on Telangana.
Meanwhile, the Telangana Joint Action Committee convener, Kodanda Ram, said that the Centre will have to come up with a date when the Telangana State will be formed. “The indefinite strike will continue till we achieve our goal,” he told the media in Hyderabad on Monday.
