Transport services, including buses and autorickshaws came to a halt in Telangana region in the wee hours on Thursday, as part of a total shutdown called by Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS). The party has called for the shutdown in protest of merger of seven mandals of Khammam district with Seemandhra or the residual Andhra Pradesh. .
The Union government announced the decision and passed an ordinance on Wednesday, to merge the seven mandals with Seemandhra. The seven mandals are said to be submerged in the backwaters of Polavaram dam and KCR is insisting that the seven mandals of Khammam district should be merged with Telangana.
Public transportation services, including 10,000 buses of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) and autorickshaws, have gone off the roads in Telangana region. The TRS activists first targeted APSRTC depots to hinder the transport services, media reports said.
Both local and long-distance buses in twin-cities, Hyderabad-Secunderabad have been stopped completely, say the media reports. The autorickshaw drivers unions are also supporting the total shutdown called by KCR. However, railway services have remained unaffected
This is the first shutdown called by KCR, who is the CM-designate and will take over charge of the new state on 2 June. Hence this protest can be considered as a State-sponsored protest and TRS activists were seen shouting slogans against the union government's decision.
Impact of the shutdown is expected to be all over the 10-district Telangana region.
The shutdown is not only affection the transport services but has also forced examination dates to be postponed.
The Post Graduate Engineering Common Entrance Test, scheduled to be held on Thursday, have been postponed to 31 May, Saturday, and even the Osmania and Kakatiya universities in the region have postponed all their examinations, which were scheduled for the day.
