More than 1,500 villages in 13 districts of Seemandhra plunged into darkness on Sunday with major cities like Hyderabad and Vijayawada too reeling under power cuts. The crisis triggered by the agitation against the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh looked set to intensify after electricity employees announced a change in their 48-hour strike: they’re now on an indefinite protest.
Almost all power plants of Andhra Pradesh are in the Seemandhra region and run on coal supplies from Telangana. With electricity disrupted, the people of Seemandhra faced dry water taps, hospitals out of fuel for generators, and trains stranded, leaving thousands to fend for themselves.
Within hours of electricity employees calling an indefinite strike from 6 am on Sunday, around 25 trains were brought to a halt even at small stations, to say nothing about those at Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Guntur, and Vijayawada. The employees, agitating for a united Andhra, pulled off supply plugs to the railways to draw national attention to the Telangana crisis.
Long power cuts caused abrupt stoppage of supply of potable water, hospitals put off all but crucial surgeries, while milk supplies took a hit as refrigeration stopped. With petrol pumps too joining the 72-hour bandh, generators in small hospitals and milk plants ran out of gas.
Andhra Congress chief Botsa Satyanarayana’s native Vizianagaram, which has witnessed violence, reported stone pelting, even as curfew kept people indoors.
Almost all power plants of Andhra Pradesh are in the Seemandhra region and run on coal supplies from Telangana. With electricity disrupted, the people of Seemandhra faced dry water taps, hospitals out of fuel for generators, and trains stranded, leaving thousands to fend for themselves.
Within hours of electricity employees calling an indefinite strike from 6 am on Sunday, around 25 trains were brought to a halt even at small stations, to say nothing about those at Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Guntur, and Vijayawada. The employees, agitating for a united Andhra, pulled off supply plugs to the railways to draw national attention to the Telangana crisis.
Long power cuts caused abrupt stoppage of supply of potable water, hospitals put off all but crucial surgeries, while milk supplies took a hit as refrigeration stopped. With petrol pumps too joining the 72-hour bandh, generators in small hospitals and milk plants ran out of gas.
Andhra Congress chief Botsa Satyanarayana’s native Vizianagaram, which has witnessed violence, reported stone pelting, even as curfew kept people indoors.
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