The Telangana joint action committee gave a call for 48 hours bandh from Thursday even as chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy appealed to the striking employees to return to duties in the light of hardships faced by the people of Telangana.
Addressing the employees of various power utilities outside the secretariat, Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhara Rao asked them to continue the strike till the separate statehood becomes a reality. He also threatened to launch an indefinite fast in an apparent bid to bring pressure on ministers and elected representatives of the Congress to quit their posts again.
Rallies and protests continued across the region while RTC buses stayed off the roads for the second day on Tuesday. The JAC of RTC employees said it would continue the strike till the separate statehood was announced.
“The strike will not have any impact on the outcome of the ongoing consultation process undertaken by the central leadership. They already know what you want to say,” the chief minister told the employees who are on strike for the past eight days in support of their demand for separate statehood.
The chief minister said the strike was affecting the lives of the common people — over 3 million students whose colleges and schools are closed, 8.4 million passengers who travel on road transport buses every day, 8 million families who are not receiving subsidy rice through the public distribution system, over 3 million who are waiting for government pensions, and farmers who use pumpsets to irrigate their crops during this peak kharif season.
Reddy came down heavily on the strike at Singareni Collieries alleging that the sole objective behind this was to push the state into complete darkness.
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Shortage in coal supply has already resulted in a demand-supply gap of 6.22 million units a day even though the government is taking over 1,000 Mw power from outside. “We have already imposed power cut for two hours in district headquarters, four hours in mandal and municipal headquarters and eight hours in villages. We may have to introduce power cuts in Hyderabad in a day or two if the situation continues,” he told the media.
The chief minister’s appeal comes at a time when almost all sections of employees along with those working in essential services like power, health, transport and civil services, are taking part in the strike. The striking Telangana employees also forced employees from other regions out of their offices for the first time on Tuesday in the secretariat. Priests of various temples are also joining the strike from tomorrow.