Garbage heaps accumulated in Hyderabad as sanitation workers’ strike to press for Telangana entered the third day while teachers, miners, power sector workers and government employees showed no signs of returning to work.
The electricity situation has worsened as distributors are resorting to frequent power cuts ranging from two to four hours in various parts of the state.
The continuing strike by Singareni miners had choked coal supply to the thermal plants, which produced more than 70% of state’s electricity, a spokesman of AP Genco said, adding that the duration of power cuts might be increased if the strike did not end.
Government doctors joined the strike by boycotting work for more than an hour on Thursday. A section of public sector employees also closed ranks.
Transport services in the ten Telangana districts remained paralysed for the second day with no buses plying.
As the agitation showed no signs of weakening, legislators from the region upped the ante, threatening to resign again if the Centre did not come out with a time-bound programe for creating the new state.
Telugu Desam Party's Telangana Forum Convenor E Dayakar Rao said all TDP legislators from the region would resign on September 28 and asked their counterparts from the ruling Congress party to also quit.
{{/usCountry}}Telugu Desam Party's Telangana Forum Convenor E Dayakar Rao said all TDP legislators from the region would resign on September 28 and asked their counterparts from the ruling Congress party to also quit.
{{/usCountry}}Congress leaders also issued a statement, saying they would be forced to take a “tough decision” if the Centre failed to make a statement in favour of statehood by September 30.
Meanwhile, a young man by the name P Srinivas from Adliabad district caused much tension as he threatened to jump from a 100-metre-high hoarding near Koti Women’s College in Hyderabad. However, the police managed to convince him not to resort to the extreme step after three hours of tough negotiation.
On the other hand, Union minister of state for defence MM Pallam Raju, who is from the coastal Andhra region, joined issue with his Telangana counterparts, saying the state could not be bifurcated on “emotional” grounds.