All train services in the Telangana region are slated to come to a grinding halt from Saturday morning, signifying virtual stoppage of every form of mass transport in the region as the Telangana Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) ratcheted up its agitation demanding a separate State.
Anticipating obstruction of train movement by activists in response to the T-JAC's call for a 36-hour-long ‘rail roko' from 6 a.m. on Saturday till 6 p.m. on Sunday, the South Central Railway cancelled 55 express trains, diverted 55, partially cancelled 48, rescheduled eight and regulated two others besides stopping all local train services in the Twin Cities.
Many trains like Howrah-Hyderabad, Nanded-Bangalore, Chennai-Hyderabad express and Hyderabad-Trivandrum express trains have been short-terminated at various places.
As the strike will also impact long-distance trains in the North-South and East-West corridors, the railways have diverted them through routes on the Konkan Railway, the Wadi station in Maharashtra and Duvvada near Visakhapatnam on the East Coast Railway. Hundreds of personnel of Railway Police and the A. P. Special Battalion are being deployed to protect railway property.
As the general strike entered the 11th day on Friday, auto rickshaw driver unions also announced a two-day-long bandh till Sunday midnight. Buses of the A. P. State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) in the Twin Cities and the rest of the Telangana region are already off the road for the fifth day while schools and colleges remain closed.
As political parties in the region vie with one another to enforce the strike, supporters of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and Telugu Desam Party engaged in physical clashes at several places while Congress MPs attacked Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy for allegedly sending ‘misleading reports' to the Centre about the ground reality.
