Seemandhra remains in darkness, Shinde rules out central rule

Andhra Pradesh remained on the boil with protests continuing against the central government's decision to carve out Telangana, while electricity employees' strike for the third day hit life hard in many parts of the state.

The state machinery continued to be paralysed while government-run schools remained shut as over six lakh government employees and teachers in Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions) persisted with their strike, which began Aug 12.

Buses of state-owned road transport corporation also remained off the road for nearly two months now. Protests against the proposed division of the state to create a  separate Telangana state continued in Seemandhra. State employees and students staged demonstrations outside the offices of the central government and nationalised banks.

They also tried to blockade approaches to the residences of central and state ministers, members of parliament and state legislature, and insisting that the state be kept united demanded their resignations.

The Vizianagaram town in north coastal Andhra remained under curfew for the fourth day. Curfew was relaxed for one hour in the morning, during which no untoward incident was reported.

But in the face of the paralysed state machinery, the central government ruled out imposing President's rule in the restive state. "There is no plan for now to impose President's rule in Andhra Pradesh," Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in New Delhi.

Also in the national capital, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu continued his hunger strike for the second day. He is demanding the central government hold talks with the leaders of all regions of the state to find an amicable solution to the current turmoil.

Opposing the state's division, YSR Congress party chief Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy also persisted with his hunger strike in Hyderabad for the fourth day. In Delhi, Congress general secretary in charge of party affairs in the state, Digvijaya Singh released to media letters written by both thed TDP and YSR Congress, supporting the formation of Telangana state.

About 30,000 employees of power utilities in all 13 districts of Seemandhra stayed away from work, almost paralysing electricity generation and transmission.

The strike has plunged several towns and hundreds of villages in darkness, causing severe hardships to patients in hospitals, affecting the drinking and irrigation water supply, leading to cancellation of trains and disrupting internet and ATM services. Production in hundreds of industries also has come to a grinding halt.

People have lost contact with the outside world as their mobile phones ran out of power. In many towns, people were not even able to draw money from ATMs. The talks between electricity employees' Joint Action Committee (JAC) and top officials in Hyderabad remained inconclusive. The government appealed to employees to return to work in view of the hardships being caused to people. Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy has called JAC leaders for talks.

The strike has brought to a standstill generation in all major power plants in Seemandhra. The strike has also impacted Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana with authorities imposing power cuts to tide over the shortage.

The state has a demand of 11,000 MW, but only 7,200 MW is being supplied. According to officials of Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation (AP Genco), generation of 3,870 MW has come to a halt.

Railways cancelled all trains between Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada. Trains from Visakhapatnam to Odisha and Chhattisgarh have also been cancelled. Ahead of their talks with the chief minister scheduled for Wednesday, leaders of government employees said they would continue the strike unless the central government gives a clear assurance that the state will not be divided.

"After the talks with the chief minister, we will announce our future course of action," said P. Ashok Babu, president of Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers' Association. Digvijaya Singh, however, reiterated that the decision was taken after consultation with all parties and ruled out going back on it. He appealed to Seemandhra employees to call off their strike and assured that the concerns of Seemandhra people would be addressed.

-IANS