The two-day Visakhapatnam bandh was total and peaceful on the second day on Saturday.
The bandh was called by students under the banner of Samaikya Andhra Joint Action Committee joined by the Uttara Andhra Rakshana Vedika on Saturday.
All shops and educational institutions, banks and ATMs were closed on the day. The Telugu Desam Party leaders were seen demanding shopkeepers to down the shutters when they tried to open them around noon at Seethammadhara.
After the attack on HSBC Global Services Centre at Siripuram on Friday, the first day of the bandh, police kept watch near the Satyam and Wipro centres close to National Highway 5 all day. Riot police with shields were present at all important junctions through the day.
Concern over possible cancellation of ODI
Meanwhile, the Andhra Cricket Association, concerned over the reported statement of an organisation that it would not allow the day and night one-day international match between India and Sri Lanka on December 18 to be played, appealed to the organisation and others not to come in the way of a sporting event as it would damage the reputation of Visakhapatnam and the country. The Board of Control for Cricket in India had allotted the match to the ACA a couple of months ago and if this was cancelled or not allowed to be played, it would be a blemish on the city that had gained the reputation of a calm and peaceful city by many foreign teams, ACA vice-president P. Vishnu Kumar Raju said.
Staff Reporter, Vijayawada reports:
An indefinite bandh was being observed for the second consecutive day demanding a united Andhra Pradesh State by the activists of the Congress and the Telugu Desam Parties (TDP) here on Saturday. Holding the party flags, activists of both the parties took out rallies on the arterial roads.
Many traders downed the shutters of their shops voluntarily, while the activists took the initiative of closing the remaining shops and cinema theatres. Many private education institutions declared a holiday and the Krishna region of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation did not operate buses on the second day too.
Heavy police deployment was arranged at important centres like the NTR Cirlce, Benz Circle and Sundarayya Park in the city. The activists staged a rail ‘roko’ at Madhura Nagar station by stopping the Machilipatnam-bound passenger train in the morning. The bandh was going on smoothly.
An all-party Joint Action Committee (JAC) for an integrated Andhra Pradesh is going to meet here in the afternoon to discuss its future course of action.
