Tuesday, Aug 13, 2013
Hyderabad: With more than 400,000 government employees and workers of State Road Transport Corporation (RTC) going on an indefinite strike, the administration was completely paralysed in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions of Andhra Pradesh.
AP Non Gazetted Officers Association and various other unions and organisations called for an indefinite strike in protest against the proposed bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to carve out Telangana state.
Apart from the government offices, shops, business establishments and petrol bunks were also closed in Andhra-Seema regions. Tuesday was the 14th day of protest in the 13 districts of the two regions.
For the first time in nearly four decades, buses going to the famous Hindu temple atop Tirumala Hills were stopped Tuesday as transport employees joined the indefinite mass strike.
Over 1,500 buses of state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) which ply daily between Tirupati and Tirumala Venkateswara temple, went off the roads. The bus services to the hill shrine were always exempted from strikes by APSRTC employees. Majority of 50,000 pilgrims who visit the temple every day travel by APSRTC buses.
While the Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and other leaders appealed to the employees to withdraw the strike, APNGO President Ashok Babu said: “There is no question of ending the strike till the announcement of division of the state was withdrawn.”
Public transport was the hardest hit by the strike as more than 12,000 buses had gone off the roads. APSRTC managing director Abdul Khayum Khan said that RTC was suffering irrepairable damage due to the continuous protests and strikes in Seema-Andhra regions.
“The protests of the last 13 days has already caused a loss of Rs98 crore [Dh5,869] to the organisation. Now the strike in the two regions will result in a loss of Rs13 crore per day”, he said after meeting the state Chief Secretary A K Mohanty.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy held a review meeting with the senior officials including the state Chief Secretary P K Mohanty. He urged the officials to ensure that the essential services were not affected by the strike.
In all 12,000 odd buses were confined to the depots of the RTC as its employees were workers were holding demonstrations and staging sit in protests on the roads. The RTC employees union had called for the strike in solidarity with the government employees indefinite strike.
State transport minister Botsa Satyanarayana said that the government will make alternate arrangements to ensure the normal RTC services.
The strike had its impact on the functioning of the state secretariat in Hyderabad, where majority of employees were from Seema-Andhra and were opposed to Telangana. Employees took out a procession in the secretariat and held a demonstration.
In a novel move the wives of the ministers and MLAs from Seema-Andhra met the governor ESL Narasimhan and urged him to intervene to preserve the unity of the state. The wives were led by Mokshaprasanna wife of minister Shailajanath. In Kakinada, the indefinite hunger strike by Vani, wife of a minister T Narasimhlu had entered 4th day Tuesday.
In Visakhapatanam the police resorted to lathi charge to remove the employees and RTC workers from the roads. They had obstructed the traffic at Maddilapalem X roads. In Vijaywada, the commercial capital of the state, roads wore a deserted look as the striking workers held demonstrations at the bus stand and the main depots of RTC. In Vijaywada alone, 3,300 buses were confined to the depots while in Guntur, commercial activities had come to a halt on the call of Chambers of Commerce.
By Mohammed Siddique Correspondent
Gulf News 2013. All rights reserved.
