The Telangana bandh spearheaded by Telangana Rashtra Samiti against the "repressive" action of Congress government to put down the march-to-assembly rally evoked a lukewarm response in the Andhra Pradesh capital and other districts of the region today.
"As many as 551 persons have been arrested under section 151 CrPC in 32 cases. And there was no untoward incident reported," said a spokesperson of the Cyberabad Police.
Additional Commissioner of Police (law and order), Anjani Kumar said there was no impact of bandh in the city as a whole and in Cyberabad area.
K Chandrasekhar Rao-led outfit gave the call for the shutdown accusing N Kiran Kumar Reddy government of deploying huge police force to crush the "Chalo Assembly" march organised here yesterday.
Although the Road Transport Corporation (RTC)-operated, bus services were partially affected in the morning as protesters staged sit-ins in front of depots in Telangana districts, including Hyderabad but functioned normally during later half of the day.
An RTC spokesperson said bus services were operated as per the advice of police officials.
Most educational institutions in the city remained closed, commercial establishments, malls and cinema theatres remained partially shut till afternoon and resumed their business in the later half of the day.
CPI, a strong supporter of separate Telangana state, however, did not support the bandh calling it a unilateral call by TRS.
The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC), comprising TRS, BJP and pro-Telangana organisations, claimed the shutdown was being observed in the entire Telangana region.
It was virtually business as usual for the IT industry in the state capital as transportation was normal, an IT employee said.
