Hyderabad: Protests and arrests rocked Telangana on Saturday as daylong shutdown called by the employees of state-owned Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) affected transport services across the state.
On 15th day of their indefinite strike, over 48,000 employees along with leaders and activists of opposition parties, trade unions, teachers and workers took to streets to protest what they call ‘dictatorial’ attitude of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.
This was the first major and state-wide shutdown in six years against Chandrashekhar Rao. Those who had joined hands with Rao for numerous strikes and mass protests during Telangana movement, this time joined striking employees of TSRTC to target him.
Slogans of ‘CM down down’ rent the air at several places in Hyderabad and 32 other districts as the protesters staged sit-in and road blockades to condemn the government’s adamant attitude on the demands of the employees. While shops and business establishments remained open and private vehicles plied as usual, the public transport services came to a standstill, causing inconvenience to commuters. Stray incidents of stone pelting and attacks on temporary TSRTC staff recruited to operate bus services marred the shutdown. About a dozen buses were damaged in the incidents.
A majority of the TSRTC buses remained confined to depots in Hyderabad and 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.
Adding to the woes of the commuters in Hyerabad, the 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 50,000 cabs have gone off the roads but some cabs were seen plying.
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 extended their support to the shutdown call of the striking TSRTC employees. Police arrested leaders of the Opposition parties for staging protests along with the striking TSRTC employees at various places in the state. TJS president M Kodandaram, TDP leaders L Ramna and R Chandrashekhar Reddy and leaders of the Left parties were arrested in Hyderabad.
