State power bandh today

Hyderabad: A state wide bandh will be observed on Tuesday in response to the call given by the Left parties' combine and the YSRCP in protest against the hike in the power tariff as well as the energy crisis that impacted the agriculture as well as the industrial sector alike. The main opposition party Telugu Desam and the Bharatiya Janata Party have announced their support to the shut down. Different trade unions including the T Employees JAC also backed the protest. Though the political parties that sponsored the shut down announced exemption for the students appearing for examination, different institutions including the Osmania University postponed the examinations scheduled for Tuesday, as a precautionary measure. The State Government which announced a relief of Rs 830 crores insulating the domestic consumers with exemption up to a usage 200 units per month from the hike, has made an appeal to the Opposition parties to call off the protest. The Minister for Labour Danam Nagender said that the bandh would not help the people in any way. He appealed to the opposition parties to rethink on the issue. But the opposition parties did not relent. A They decided to go ahead with the protest programme on the plea that the government did not respond positively to their demand for total withdrawal of the hike and scrapping of the merchant power policy. The CPI state secretary K Narayana urged all sections of people and trade unions to make the bandh an overwhelming success. The members of the Charlapally Industries' Association sat on a day's fast in support of the bandh on Monday. Addressing the protesters, Narayana accused the government of adopting anti-people's policies. The TDP leader Mothkupalli Narasimhulu also appealed to people to mount pressure on the government for forcing it to withdraw the hike.