Thaindian News

Hyderabad, July 4 (IANS) Normal life in Hyderabad and nine other districts of Telangana is likely to come to a standstill Tuesday and Wednesday as the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) has called for 48-hour shutdown in a bid to intensify its agitation for a separate state.

JAC, which is spearheading the movement for separate Telangana state, has given a call for a series of protests starting with the shutdown to demand that the central government table a bill on the issue in the monsoon session of parliament.

JAC, which comprises the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other political and non-political groups, has also called for a rail blockade July 8 and 9.

TRS chief K. Chandrasekhara Rao appealed to people to make the 48-hour shutdown a total success. He also urged central and government employees, teachers, lawyers and workers of state-owned Singareni Collieries to participate in the strike.

JAC convenor M. Kodandaram appealed to the Congress, the Telugu Desam Party and all mass organisations to make the shutdown a huge success.

Unions representing employees of the state-owned Road Transport Corporation and the electricity board, who are part of JAC, have announced their participation in the shutdown.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said the protest would continue till the central government honours its commitment made on Dec 9, 2009, to carve out a separate Telangana state.

Appealing to all sections of people to participate in the protest, KCR said the rail blockade would snap the rail link between south and north India.

Telangana students will take out rallies July 6 and 7 in villages, towns and district headquarters while cook-and-eat protests, whereby people from all walks of life will set up kitchens on roads, cook food and eat there, will be held across the region on July 10.