Hyderabad, October 01: Are the people of Hyderabad getting vexed with bandhs? The way the bandh call was ignored for the first time after the Telangana movement was intensified was indicative of the vexation of the common man. Though the TRS and JAC claimed that the bandh was total, it was a fact that many shops, hotels and tea stalls were open. Petrol pumps which were shut in the morning were opened by evening. Government could run buses – though a skeleton service for the city commuters. Even cinemas which were shut were opened for the first show.
TRS and BJP could enforce bandh in their bastions, while bandh was deliberately defied in the areas of influence of Congress and MIM. Even in the areas where bandh was observed, near normalcy was restored by 4 pm. In the old city there was no sign of bandh at all. All the shops, restaurants and other business houses remained wide open. There was also no force or pressure from the Telangana activists to enforce bandh there, said businessmen. Almost all the private establishments and IT offices in the city functioned with near normal attendance.
While the situation is indicative that people were getting restless because of the frequent bandhs, it also shows that even enforcers of the bandh did not take it seriously or feared public wrath to enforce it. The silver lining for denizens is the announcement of the TRS chief KCR that they would not call for bandh again! The last bandh they called was however not successful.
—-AndhraH