Telangana turmoil continues

Even as the entire Telangana region including Greater Hyderabad got paralysed further on Saturday, the first day of the 48-hour rail roko and auto strike in the region called as part of the Sakala Janula Samme (people’s strike) seeking a separate state, the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) comprising about 133 associations belonging to various departments hardened its stance by threatening to lay siege to the Secretariat unless the state government withdraws its decision to terminate the services of contract and other ad hoc employees. As part of what they called the transition from a passive first stage to a militant second stage of the agitation, the leaders, including Telangana Employees JAC convener K Swamy Goud, said the employees would first stage dharnas in front of the residences of Telangana elected representatives for three days beginning Monday. The employee association leaders ruled out entering into a dialogue with the state government over the strike. On Saturday, the entire region came to a grinding halt and the scenario is expected to be repeated on Sunday as all long-distance, local train and auto services remainsuspended for the next 24 hours as well. Already reeling due to the absence of public transport in view of APSRTC employees striking work, the commuting woes of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts residents multiplied on Saturday due to the absence of local train services and autos. The entire region also continued to be in the grip of power cuts ranging from as much as 10 hours in the rural areas to two to three hours in urban areas. Of the total installed capacity of 5000 MW, the thermal generation in view of the strike by Singareni Collieries employees dropped to 3,100 MW on Saturday. Despite arranging for coal from other sources, the stock is sufficient only for the next two days, said sources. Some of the coal supplies that were expected to reach the state did not happen because of the twoday rail roko. In just 12 days of the Sakala Janula Samme called by the state government employees belonging to the Telangana region, Andhra Pradesh has lost a whopping Rs 3,564 crore of gross state domestic product (GSDP). While the entire Telangana lost Rs 2,700 crore due to the strike, Hyderabad city alone saw a dip of Rs 864 crore revenue in view of the strike. The estimates of the total revenue loss for the state were prepared by the planning department with the help of Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) and submitted to chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Saturday. As per the study, about 7 lakh agriculture labour in the Telangana region are not getting their daily work due to the strike. Nearly 33 lakh students are not attending their classes.