All-round support for TSRTC strike : Bandh hits normal life

Hyderabad: For the first time after the formation of separate Telangana, the state witnessed a major shutdown of TSRTC bus services.

The state bandh called by the TSRTC employees JAC got full support from all political parties, students JAC and social organisations. All buses remained confined to bus depots. According to official figures, only 516 buses were operated on Saturday.

Despite preventive arrests of political leaders by the police at various places, protests were held across the state and the bandh passed off peacefully barring couple of stray incidents of minor violence.

The cab drivers of Ola and Uber also went on strike expressing their solidarity with the RTC employees and to press for resolving their demands by the aggregators.

This led to the cabs going off roads since midnight of Friday. Several passengers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport faced tough time to reach their destinations. Even in the city, cabs were not easily available.

Business establishments were closed in some areas like Abids till afternoon, while in other places they were open but the customer footfall was much less.

In a freak incident, CPI (ML) state committee leader P Ranga Rao received a serious injury on his left thumb when he was being bundled into the police van at the RTC crossroads in Hyderabad.

Tensions prevailed for some time as the Left party leaders gathered in a big number and staged a protest against the police highhandedness in dealing with the agitating Left party leaders. The injured were immediately shifted to nearby hospital.

In Nizamabad, there was an incident of stone pelting on a bus in which a women passenger suffered minor injuries. In Nagole area of Hyderabad, RTC drivers beat up a private driver and prevented him from taking out bus from the depot.

Leaders like Prof Kodandaram, BJP state president K Laxman, former minister M Narsimhulu were arrested by the police near Abids when they attempted to visit the MGBS.

The state BJP now proposes to send a detailed report on the strike to New Delhi. Laxman found fault with the government for "defying" the court directives to call employees for talks twice.

Heavy police forces were deployed at Osmania and Kakatiya Universities where the students' unions came in support of the RTC unions and staged dharans. They burnt an effigy of the Chief Minister on the campuses.

The two biggest bus stations in Telangana -- Mahatma Gandhi and Jubilee Bus Stations -- wore a deserted look as the agitating workers did not allow the hired drivers and conductors to join their duties. As a result, the corporation could run only a few services in remote areas of the state.