Hyderabad, December 31: THE shutdown in Telangana called by the Joint Action Committee ( JAC) of all political parties paralysed normal life there on Wednesday.
More than 9,000 buses run by the Andhra Pradesh state road transport corporation went off the roads. The south central railway cancelled as many as 165 trains as a precautionary measure.
In the morning, the New Delhibound Andhra Pradesh Express started from Hyderabad, for the first time with a pilot train with an engine and bogey full of armed paramilitary personnel to preempt pro- Telangana agitators from stopping it.
Shops, business establishments, petrol bunks, cinema halls, banks, offices and educational institutions remained closed for the day.
A large number of government employees, lawyers, industrial workers, students and people’s organisations in the region stayed off work, demanding a separate state.
Pro- Telangana agitators attacked a private resort at Hayatnagar on the outskirts of Hyderabad and set fire to a private vehicle at Ramoji Film City.
The Hyderabad police imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in the city and surrounding areas to prevent agitators from resorting to violence.
Heavy police deployment was also made at IT companies such as Microsoft, Google and Mahindra Satyam.
As many as 40 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force ( CRPF) have been deployed in Telangana, including 15 in Hyderabad.
Additional police forces from neighbouring Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra were also made available.
The police took into custody several JAC leaders, who took out a rally from Bagh Lingampally to Indira Park.
Barring these incidents, the bandh was peaceful.
DGP R. R. Girish Kumar told the media that the police had been instructed to crack down on the agitators if they tried to take law into their own hands.
With governor- in- charge ESL Narasimhan reviewing the law and order situation with chief minister K. Rosaiah, Kumar and other officials, there is speculation that the Centre may impose President’s Rule in the state if things become worse.
Rosaiah, however, told the media that the governor was not conducting any review meetings, but only getting frequent updates on the situation.
“ The governor is a former IPS officer from the Andhra Pradesh cadre. He has a right to know what is happening in the state. Beyond that, we need not read anything into the meetings,” Rosaiah said.
He also postponed the cabinet meeting scheduled for Wednesday on the pretext that there was a bandh in Telangana.
But sources said Rosaiah had postponed the meeting as 13 Telangana ministers refused to attend unless the Centre clarified its stand on the Telangana issue.
——–Courtesy: Mail Today