The fortnight-long general strike in support of separate statehood for Telangana turned grim with industrial workers, including those in central public sector units such as BHEL, staying away from work on Monday.
The strike, led by employees of state government and government-owned organisations including state road transport corporations supported by the political joint action committee, was on Monday marred by violent outbursts and arrests.
An additional commissioner of transport department was manhandled by the activists for serving notices on striking employees on Monday. Also, the advocates of AP High Court assaulted a person for filing a public interest litigation against the ongoing strike.
Infrastructure and investments minister, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, along with members of Parliament, Ponnam Prabhakar, Rajaiah and Madhu Yashki Goud were arrested when they staged a dharna in front of Vidyut Soudha, the headquarters of state power utilities.
The impact of the strike reached the secretariat as employees of Telangana staged a rally within the secretariat premises after boycotting the work while the attendance of non-Telangana employees was thin as political activists stopped buses carrying government employees at several places in the city on Monday.
Power supply situation is also turning grim with reduced inflows into major reservoirs forcing the authorities to reduce hydel generation. The demand-supply gap has increased to over 25 million units due to reduced availability and increased demand on account of a dry spell being witnessed in several parts of the state.
However, a threat of complete blackout has been averted for the time being as the authorities could restore coal production in five of the 50 mines of Singareni Collieries in Khammam district. According to Singareni officials, about 48,000 tonne coal was extracted yesterday of which 42,000 tonne was despatched to various power stations in the region. About 6,500 of the total 9,500 workers resumed work from yesterday following the company's offer of double pay.
Industrial area
According to authorities, strike in industrial areas was partial with a few exceptions in Nacharam, Cherlapally and Moula-Ali industrial estates where it was almost total. Operations at the BHEL-Ramachandrapuram unit came to a grinding halt due to the one-day strike staged by the employee associations.
Government employees staged a day-long dharna in front of the chief minister's office at the secretariat. Tension prevailed at the headquarters of APTransco as political leaders, including a state minister, sat on dharna, leading to their arrest.
A number of small and medium enterprises in and around the city downed their shutters in response to a 48-hour bandh call given by the Telangana Industrialists Federation. An industrialists from Bonthapalli said all the 50 manufacturing units in the area were closed.
This was despite the fact that the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci) has opposed the bandh call stating it had always been its policy to stay away from political affiliations and shut-downs.
According to Fapcci, the two-day closure of the industry was estimated to cause a production loss of Rs 1,000 crore.
So far, the total production loss on account of the agitation stood at Rs 1,800 at a rate of Rs 100-150 crore a day and now the daily loss will go up to Rs 500, the industry body said.
An industrialist said that in Bonthapalli alone, which is home to bulk drugs and other industry, the production loss was estimated at Rs 25 crore a day.
Buses of the state road transport corporation (RTC) continued to remain off the road as the talks between the RTC management and employees did not yield any result. Schools and colleges have also been closed.
The signs of frustration among the agitators and political parties were visible on Monday when the elected representatives of the Congress launched a strong verbal attack targeting chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy for 'sending false reports to the Centre about the impact of the strike'. Several Ministers, MLAs and MPs from the region have begun threatening to quit party and positions if no positive response to their demand comes by the end of this month.
Meanwhile, the Telangana political JAC on Monday announced a fresh agitational programme as part of the ongoing general strike while calling for a bandh in Hyderabad on September 30.
