Patients to ports: anti-Telangana blackout cripples all

Three days of power blackout in Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh (AP), in protest against creation of Telangana state, has crippled normal life in 13 districts.

Three days of power blackout in Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh (AP), in protest against creation of Telangana state, has crippled normal life in 13 districts.

On Sunday morning, the Power Employees’ Joint Action Committee began an indefinite strike to protest the carving out of Telangana from AP. More than 70,000 workers of transmission, generation and distribution companies joined the stir in Seemandhra region, which comprises coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema.

Power generation of 5,000MW has been halted.

Though partial power restoration was reported from a few areas on Tuesday, the common people continue to suffer.

• ATMs are not functioning in most cities and towns in the region due to power outage.

• ICUs and OPDs have been shut down in several hospitals, as most hospitals are functioning on generators.

• Many patients have been turned away by hospitals at Vijayawada, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam and other cities.

• Burn victims admitted to KG Hospital in Visakhapatnam are suffering as the air conditioning has been shut down.

• More than 50 trains in South Central Railway Zone have been cancelled while several others delayed

• Vijayawada and Tirupati airports have been running on backup power.

• Fuel shortages have been reported, triggering panic buying at several places.

• Water supply in towns and villages has been affected.

• The IT sector in Visakhapatnam has been hit.

• Operations at Visakhapatnam steel plant have suffered.

• Port operations at Visakhapatnam have been severely hit.