Telangana stir hits Andhra Pradesh, rail traffic blocked
By ANITuesday, March 1, 2011
HYDERABAD - In a bid to mount pressure on the Centre for a separate state, pro-Telangana groups have organised rail blockades all over the region on Tuesday.
The protesters of various pro-Telangana groups stopped dozens of trains in and around Hyderabad, Nalgonda, Warangal, Nizamabad, Khammam and other districts.
Raising slogans of ‘Jai Telangana’, activists of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other constituents of the Telangana Joint Action Committee, squatted on the tracks to stop the trains.
Telangana leaders of Congress, Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Telangana Praja Front of Maoist sympathiser Gaddar and Telangana lawyers’ forum are also supporting the rail blockade.
The protesters have asked all villagers from the Telangana region to come and sit on railway tracks.
The South Central Railway (SCR) rescheduled trains and cancelled several others that include the Hyderabad-New Delhi AP Express, Pune-Secunderabad special train, Hyderabad-Mumbai CST Hussainsagar Express and Hyderabad-Tirupati Rayalaseema Express.
Trains to Northern India pass through Telangana and are likely to be affected.
Pro-Telangana groups have also called for a “march of millions” to Hyderabad on March 10.
Several Telangana-related protests and shutdowns have brought Andhra Pradesh to a stand still.
The Central Government has appointed a judicial commission headed by former Supreme Court Justice Srikrishna to look into issue.
The report, submitted to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram in December last year, has suggested at least six options, including maintaining status quo in the state or bifurcating the state. (ANI)
