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While the indefinite strike in support of a Telangana State completed 25 days on Friday without any major violence, tension has mounted across the region as the State Government gears up for a confrontation with the agitators on the issue of rail roko.
Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) has changed the dates of its three-day rail roko from October 9-11 to October 12-14. The change was announced by TJAC convenor Prof Kodanda Ram after the meeting of steering committee on Friday evening.
The meeting, attended by TRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao and Employees’ JAC convenor Swami Goud, also discussed the future strategy of the agitation. Union Minister of State for Railways KH Muniyappa, who was in Anantapur, told the media on Friday that all efforts would be made to run train services normally under police protection.
“Saving the public from hardship and providing them the train service is as important as agitating for Telangana State,” he said. Muniyappa also appealed to the TJAC to withdraw the three-day long rail strike call.
Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy sounded a warning to the Telangana agitators, saying any attempt to disrupt the train services would be dealt with strongly. He added the police would provide full security to the Railways’ property and the train passengers. The situation was also discussed at a high level meeting of the police and the Railway officials with the Chief Secretary.
The TJAC has rejected the appeals to withdraw the strike. Congress MP from Karimnagar Ponnam Prabhakar and TRS legislator T Harish Rao have separately warned the Government against any strong-arm methods.
“If the Government uses the police force to foil the Rail Roko, it will be responsible for the consequences,” said Ponnam Prabhakar.
Harish Rao warned that any attempt by the Government to run trains in Telangana will be met by the force of lakhs who will come out of their homes and sit on the tracks. “Women will be in the forefront of this agitation. If anybody is arrested, we will launch a jail bharo movement,” he said. Harish Rao asked farmers to block tracks with bullock carts.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh seems to be heading towards complete darkness as the power crisis has further worsened. After the shortage of coal, forcing the closure of 500 MW Kakatiya Thermal Power Plant in Warangal, the NTPC’s national thermal power plant at Ramagundam was also facing serious coal shortages. “If the present situation continues, the power generation will come to a complete halt,” said a senior official.
Though the Government claimed that some striking workers of Singareni Collieries have returned to work there was no improvement in supply of coal. If power generation at NTPC was affected it will hit all the southern states as well as Maharashtra as all of them get power from this 2000 MW national plant.
The Andhra Pradesh Government reeling under the impact of power shortage has already increased the power cuts in Hyderabad to four hours and in other major towns to about 8 hours. There is no power supply to the villages during the day time.
The situation was also worsening in the already sick Road Transport Corporation. RTC managing director Prasad Rao told the reporters today that RTC had suffered a loss of Rs 140 crore due to the strike by the employees so far. “If it continues like this for a few days more, the corporation will collapse financially”, he said, urging the employees to resume their duties.
Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) has changed the dates of its three-day rail roko from October 9-11 to October 12-14. The change was announced by TJAC convenor Prof Kodanda Ram after the meeting of steering committee on Friday evening.
The meeting, attended by TRS president K Chandrashekhar Rao and Employees’ JAC convenor Swami Goud, also discussed the future strategy of the agitation. Union Minister of State for Railways KH Muniyappa, who was in Anantapur, told the media on Friday that all efforts would be made to run train services normally under police protection.
“Saving the public from hardship and providing them the train service is as important as agitating for Telangana State,” he said. Muniyappa also appealed to the TJAC to withdraw the three-day long rail strike call.
Director General of Police V Dinesh Reddy sounded a warning to the Telangana agitators, saying any attempt to disrupt the train services would be dealt with strongly. He added the police would provide full security to the Railways’ property and the train passengers. The situation was also discussed at a high level meeting of the police and the Railway officials with the Chief Secretary.
The TJAC has rejected the appeals to withdraw the strike. Congress MP from Karimnagar Ponnam Prabhakar and TRS legislator T Harish Rao have separately warned the Government against any strong-arm methods.
“If the Government uses the police force to foil the Rail Roko, it will be responsible for the consequences,” said Ponnam Prabhakar.
Harish Rao warned that any attempt by the Government to run trains in Telangana will be met by the force of lakhs who will come out of their homes and sit on the tracks. “Women will be in the forefront of this agitation. If anybody is arrested, we will launch a jail bharo movement,” he said. Harish Rao asked farmers to block tracks with bullock carts.
Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh seems to be heading towards complete darkness as the power crisis has further worsened. After the shortage of coal, forcing the closure of 500 MW Kakatiya Thermal Power Plant in Warangal, the NTPC’s national thermal power plant at Ramagundam was also facing serious coal shortages. “If the present situation continues, the power generation will come to a complete halt,” said a senior official.
Though the Government claimed that some striking workers of Singareni Collieries have returned to work there was no improvement in supply of coal. If power generation at NTPC was affected it will hit all the southern states as well as Maharashtra as all of them get power from this 2000 MW national plant.
The Andhra Pradesh Government reeling under the impact of power shortage has already increased the power cuts in Hyderabad to four hours and in other major towns to about 8 hours. There is no power supply to the villages during the day time.
The situation was also worsening in the already sick Road Transport Corporation. RTC managing director Prasad Rao told the reporters today that RTC had suffered a loss of Rs 140 crore due to the strike by the employees so far. “If it continues like this for a few days more, the corporation will collapse financially”, he said, urging the employees to resume their duties.
