Transport services hit across Telangana as protests erupt

Left party activists supporting Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) employees being detained during a protest

Hyderabad: Amid incidents of stone pelting in a few places, the day-long shutdown began in Telangana on a call given by employees of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), whose indefinite strike entered the 15th day on Saturday.

Transport services were hit as a majority of the TSRTC buses remained confined to depots in Hyderabad and 32 other districts with protesting employees staging a sit-in to prevent the vehicles from coming out.

Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station (MGBS), the biggest bus station in Hyderabad, wore a near deserted look, as bus services to most destinations in Telangana and neighbouring states were suspended.

A view of a deserted road during a bandh called by Telangana RTC employees, in Hyderabad. Pics/PTI

Adding to woes of the commuters in Hyderabad, Ola and Uber cab drivers also went on an indefinite strike from Saturday to press for their demands to regularise the cab aggregator market. The drivers' association claimed that 50,000 cabs had gone off the roads.

The Opposition Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS), Jana Sena, Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), trade unions, various organisations of employees, teachers and workers, student bodies and people's groups have given their support to the shutdown call of the striking TSRTC employees.

The shutdown was called by the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of TSRTC employees, who have been on strike since October 5 to press for their demands, the main
being TSRTC's merger with the government.

50K
No. of cabs that have gone off the roads in the state

Search on for six washed away with car

Personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Saturday began search for six persons who were feared drowned when the car in which they were travelling fell into the Left Canal of Nagarjuna Sagar Project in Telangana's Suryapet district, police said. The incident occurred on Friday night at Chakirala village of Nadigudem block when the person driving the car apparently lost control and the vehicle fell off the bridge into the canal.

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