Telangana protagonists on Monday blocked the National Highway 7 near the Bhoraj integrated check post in Adilabad district disrupting the flow of traffic on the Andhra Pradesh-Maharashtra border. The blockade was part of the ongoing Sakala Janula Samme or general strike called by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) to press for its demand for a separate Telangana State.
About 5,000 activists belonging to different segments of the society including the State Government employees in the region who are currently on strike and those from political parties such as the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Telangana Nagara Samiti (TNS) had arrived at Bhoraj by noon. TRS floor leader in the Assembly Etala Rajender, Sircilla MLA K. Taraka Rama Rao and Adilabad MLA Jogu Ramanna of TNS too participated in the blockade.
Tents were pitched on the highway early in the morning though the blockade was planned to start at 9 a.m.. Protesters arriving at the spot raised pro-Telangana slogans demanding a Bill for carving out the State in Parliament.
There was no traffic jam of Maharashtra bound vehicles as the lorries were stopped near hotels and dhabas much ahead of the venue of the blockade. However, long queues of lorries that had entered the Andhra Pradesh border from Maharashtra had formed by noon.
