Normal life in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh was badly affected on Saturday when trains, buses and autorickshaws suspended operations as part of the general strike called by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) in support of its demand for a separate State.
Activists of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party and other political parties squatted on railway tracks at several places making it impossible for train movement. At Moula Ali station near Secunderabad, the agitators erected a stage and a tent right on the tracks while in other places they played ‘kabaddi' on the platform. Among them were former Union Minister of State for Railways Bandaru Dattatreya of the BJP, Chairman of T-JAC M. Kodandaram, BJP State president G. Kishan Reddy and TRS MLA K. T. Rama Rao.
The Secunderabad and Hyderabad railway stations wore a deserted look, barring the presence of large contingents of police and sanitation staff who used the opportunity to clean up platforms. The ‘rail roko' began at 6 am on Saturday and is slated to continue till Sunday evening.
As a precautionary measure, the South Central Railway (SCR) cancelled all trains originating or terminating in railway stations in Telangana or passing through the region and diverted long-distance trains on the North-East and East-West corridors through other regions. The Multi-ModalTransport System (MMTS) operating in the Twin Cities and suburban areas were also suspended.
IG of Railway Protection Force B. Mohan said political activists staged protests at 24 railway stations across the region and stopped goods trains at two places. These trains were later moved to safer locations.
Auto-rickshaws in the State capital and in Telangana region are off the roads since Friday midnight while the A. P. State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) were forced to pull off its buses since September 19 after its staff affiliated to the National Mazdoor Union (NMU) joined the general strike. Several petrol bunks in the Twin Cities were also closed following a call given by the Osmania University Students' JAC. In view of the undeclared holiday, people thronged multiplexes and other cinema theatres.
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