As the impasse over the demand for separate statehood continued, Dasara has not made any difference to the Telangana region. The general strike continued a day after the festival just like it had been observed in the past 25 days.
Consequently, public transport remained off the roads, educational institutions did not open and government work suffered across the region. Agriculturists are bearing the brunt on account of acute power shortage, while the people in general had to cope with power cuts for longer periods during the day.
Power generation at the state-owned NTPC unit in Ramagundam declined to 1,550 Mw a day as against its installed capacity of 2,600 Mw. The situation would have worsened but for receipt of 22,000 tonnes of coal from South Eastern Coal Fields on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), which is spearheading the movement for separate statehood, has decided to organise its three-day ‘rail roko’ programme from October 12 instead of from October 9.
With the ruling Congress at the Centre stating that it needs more time to resolve the issue, the strike is unlikely to end in the near future.
Chief secretary Pankaj Dwivedi, who held a review meeting on the latest situation arising out of the strike, said the state road transport corporation had suffered a loss Rs 120 crore in the last 20 days of strike.