Seemandhra stir gains momentum

• Employees in 13 districts join hands
• RTC buses confined to depots

The 14-day-old Samaikyandhra agitation in the Andhra and the Rayalaseema districts took a decisive turn on Tuesday, with lakhs of government employees, including those of APSRTC, striking work to press their demand for retaining the united State. The employees locked their offices and boycotted work to join the struggle. Leaders of the employees’ organisations said they would take part in the Independence Day celebrations and later join the agitation. They will finalise the future course of action on August 16.

Agitators flood thoroughfares

Anantapur: The town’s main thoroughfares were flooded with Samaikyandhra supporters stalling traffic by squatting on the roads. The relay fasts by APNGOs, engineering college associations and non-political JACs continued. Over 1.4 lakh government employees joined the fast. About 6,000 RTC employees joined the stir. Offices and factories were deserted. Even kids joined the agitation.

Bandh, strike peaceful

Machilipatnam: The bandh and strike organised by Samaikyandhra supporters evoked a good response and passed off peacefully in Krishna district. Government employees, students and representatives of business organisations took part in the bandh from Monday midnight. Students and activists of various people's organisations took to the streets. Business establishments, educational institutions, cinema halls and banks were closed. All government employees, except the police, took part in the bandh. Lawyers boycotted courts. The RTC employees also participated in the bandh. Samaikyandhra supporters organised rallies, road blockades and human chains across the district.

EG shuts down completely

Kakinada: Total bandh continued in East Godavari district on Tuesday in support of Samaikyandhra. About 50 thousand state government employees in the district embarked on an indefinite strike mid night on Monday following the call of APNGOs Association bringing to a grinding halt all the governmental activities. About thousand RTC buses were confined to nine depots in the district with 4300 employees joining the indefinite strike. About 3500 municipal employees in various towns in the district stayed away from work. However, essential civic services like water, sanitation, street lighting and other emergency services were exempted from strike. Commercial establishments including cloth shops downed their shutters in Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Amalapuram, Ramachandrapuram, Samarlakota, Pithapuram and Tuni.

Takes serious turn

Kurnool: The 14-day-old Samaikyandhra agitation took a serious turn on Tuesday with all sections of civil society joining and making the strike successful on Tuesday. About 70,000 employees of 71 departments joined the strike launched by students, teachers and employees unions from Monday midnight. Following the strike call given by the APNGOs’ Association, about 5,000 RTC employees joined the strike disrupting 960 bus services in the district.

Normal life affected

Srikakulam: All government and private educational institutions in the district remained closed. Several trade unions declared their support to the agitation, which paralysed normal life. Government employees locked their offices and launched relay fast. The Samaikyandhra agitators said they would formulate an action plan after August 16.

NGOs & RTC staff join strike

Ongole: About 45 thousand government employees of various departments in the district went on an indefinite strike from Tuesday following the call given by the APNGOs Association. About 4500 RTC employees went on strike confining the entire fleet of RTC buses in the district to depots. Petrol bunks and schools and colleges were closed down throughout the district. In Chirala Vedic Pundits performed homam in support of Samaikyandhra. In Marturu, the Granite Owners Association organized a rally on the National Highway opposing the bifurcation of the state.

NGOs strike paralyses life

Kadapa: Normal life was paralysed in Kadapa district with NGOs strike, which started from Monday midnight onwards. Buses, registration offices, commercial tax offices, supply of ration had come to a grinding halt with the strike. In all, 23,000 NGOs, who gave a strike call demanding the resignations of public representatives, took out massive rallies in the town. Notably, the RTC employees too joined the strike. Hence, 800 buses confined to depots leaving the common man in the lurch. The fast launched by YSRCP MLA Srikanth Reddy and former Kadapa Mayor Ravindranath Reddy entered second day.

Govt. staff join strike

Vizianagaram: Nearly 24,000 employees in all government departments in the district went on lightning strike in response to a call given by the APNGOs’ Association. Government offices were deserted. About 4,000 RTC employees struck work leaving 800 buses in nine depots. Students and Samaikyandhra agitators staged demonstrations at various places. Activists of the Congress, TDP and YSRCP organised ‘vanta-varpu’ programmes. Agitators played shuttle badminton on the road in front of RTC complex. The Congress and YSRCP workers formed human chains and organised ‘rasta roko’ demonstrations. The Samaikyandhra activists organised a ‘sakalajanula samme’.

Agitation rages

Nellore: All the government offices in district were closed as about 50 thousand government employees struck work indefinitely following call given by the AP NGOs Association to protest against the bifurcation of the state. AS the 4680 RTC employees went on an indefinite strike, 832 buses in ten depots in Nellore region were confined to the depots.

‘Samme’ hits normal life

Visakhapatnam: Normal life in the Port City came to a standstill, with the Seemandhra ‘sakalajanula niravadhika samme’, which began here on Tuesday. Over 23,000 government employees working in the district participated in the strike, while 1,063 RTC buses were stranded in depots. All 5,500 RTC employees of the Visakha region struck work from midnight on Monday. Auto-rickshaw workers joined the strike voluntarily. All banks, private financial institutions, educational institutions, shops and business establishments, hotels, cinema theatres and malls downed their shutters voluntarily.

Stir by Govt staff

Eluru: The 25,000 strong government employees went on strike from the midnight of Monday in the district. All the government wore a deserted look in the absence of the government employees. The 720 RTC buses were confined to the bus depots throughout the district with 3,000 employees on the strike along with the government employees.

At Denduluru, The villagers of Perugudem village in Denduluru mandal staged rasta roko on the national highway disrupting the traffic between Denduluru and Dwaraka Tirumala for many hours. They raised slogans against TRS chief KCR and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Govt services paralysed

Guntur: All government services were paralysed and offices remained closed after its employees went on strike and launched relay hunger strike. About 2,400 RTC employees struck work preventing movement of 495 buses across five depots in the district. Managements of private educational institutions supported the strike.

Pilgrims hit hard

Chittoor: Pilgrims were stranded at Tirumala as 500 buses that ply between Tirumala and Tirupati on Ghatroad were confined to depots following the strike of RTC employees in support of Samaikyandhra on Tuesday. About 8300 RTC employees in the district participated in the strike stopping the plying of about 1500 buses. About 175 lawyers took out a walkathon covering 12 kms from Chittoor Gandhi statue to Kanipakam temple on Tuesday.