Strike paralyses transport, banking services in AP, Telangana

Hyderabad: Transportation and banking services in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on Wednesday came to a standstill during the day-long nationwide strike called by ten central trade unions against changes in labour laws and privatization of PSUs.

According to All India Bank Employees Association Secretary B S Rambabu, as many as 52,000 bank employees belonging to both the states participated in the strike.

Except a few branches here and there, over 7,000 bank branches in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana did not function.

“Clearing operations, cash transactions and transfers did not take place today”, Rambabu stated.

He said “all the commercial, private, grameen and cooperative banks participated in the strike”. Public transport was paralyzed in Hyderabad as the state-owned transport services remained off the roads. Majority of the auto-rickshaws also did not ply in the city.

According to a senior official of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation, “99 per cent of the services across the state were crippled as most of the 55,000 strong workforce participated in the strike. Only skeleton services operated in a few pockets of the state”, the RTC official said.

Majority of employees belonging to various organizations and unions participated in demonstrations across the city, a trade union leader said.

Normal life was hit by the strike as Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport was unable to run full-fledged services in Visakhapatnam city.

The strike was near total in the industrial area of Gajuwaka as majority of the employees of both public and private sector companies refrained from work.

“The strike was total in Visakhapatnam Steel Plant”, its employees union's general secretary G Adinarayana Rao said. “All the 15 trade unions barring Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) have joined the strike”, he added.
Employees of other public sector undertakings such as Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Shipyard, Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels Limited, Visakhapatnam Port Trust and some private companies also joined the strike.

Source:PTI