Thaindian News

Hyderabad, July 5 (IANS) Life came to a standstill across Andhra Pradesh’s Telangana region Tuesday as a two-day shutdown called by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) evoked total response in Hyderabad and nine other districts.

Hundreds of commuters were stranded as public transport went off the roads. Shops, business establishments and educational institutions were closed to press the central government to table a bill in parliament to carve out a separate state of Telangana.

Barring minor incidents, the shutdown was peaceful till afternoon, police said.

The state-run Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corp (APSRTC) suspended services in Telangana districts and services that connect the region with Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and other towns in Andhra and Rayalaseema.

There were no APSRTC bus services in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad causing inconvenience to commuters. Only a few autorickshaws plied as auto drivers also joined the strike.

The Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station here, the biggest in the state, was deserted as all 3,500 services to various parts of the state were cancelled. Similar was the situation at the Jubilee Bus Station in Secunderabad.

South Central Railway cancelled local trains in Hyderabad and Secunderabad as a precaution.

Besides shops and business establishments, banks, petrol bunks, shopping malls and cinema theatres were also shut.

The shutdown evoked total response in most parts of Hyderabad and in Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar, Warangal, Khammam, Nizamabad, Medak, Karimnagar and Adilabad districts.

Several IT companies reported thin attendance as most private cabs also remained off the roads.

APSRTC employees, along with Telangana activists, staged protests outside bus depots in various towns.

Activists of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and other constituents of JAC took to streets to force the closure of shops in some districts. They were seen stopping private vehicles.

Production in the state-owned Singareni Collieries Co Ltd came to a halt as the employees joined the strike. All the employees of the mines, spread over four districts, held protests.

The secretariat, the seat of governance, was deserted as employees from Telangana struck work.

All educational institutions were closed in Hyderabad and nine other districts of the region.

Osmania University, Kakatiya University and Acharya N.G. Ranga Agriculture University cancelled the examinations scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

There was some tension at Gun Park in front of state assembly here with dozens of leaders of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) arrested for violating prohibitory orders. The TDP legislators, who resigned Monday, had gathered at Telangana martyrs’ memorial for a sit-in.

Police have imposed prohibitory orders in Hyderabad banning the assembly of four or more people. Police and paramilitary forces were deployed around the assembly, secretariat, Osmania University and other areas.