Total shutdown

Hyderabad: The 24-hour bandh call given by the Telangana Joint Action Committee resenting the discriminatory attitude of the government towards pro and anti Telangana agitations passed of peacefully on Saturday. However, normal life was badly affected.

Shops, business establishments, petrol bunks, ATM counters, cinema halls were closed at several places in the twin cities. Schools, colleges and other educational institutions declared a holiday. City buses were off roads throughout the day. Even Imliban and Jubilee Bus Stations wore a deserted look with RTC authorities cancelling bus services to all districts in the Telangana region. RTC officials said that they were in touch with police authorities in Hyderabad as well as districts on security aspects resume services. Anticipating trouble, railway authorities had cancelled MMTS services until 9 pm.

Elaborate security arrangements by police in view of the shutdown ensured no untoward incident took place in the city except for exchanges between police and students near OU and Nizam College. The Commissioner of police, Anurag Sharma said that some 360 persons were taken into preventive custody during the bandh.

Meanwhile, barring stray incidents, bandh has been by and large peaceful in Telangana districts on Saturday. The 840 RTC buses in Mahbubnagar and 756 buses in Nalgonda district were confined to depots. An unidentified person tried to set ablaze the statue of Dr YS Rajasekhar Reddy in Gadwal. Cable operators stopped the telecasting of Seemandhra TV channels in Shadnagar.

In Nalgonda, Medak, Adilabad, Nizamabad the bandh was peaceful. Coal production was affected in Singareni Collieries in Khammam district. Kakatiya varsity students took to the streets in Warangal.

Bandh was peaceful and total in Karimnagar. There were day-long dharnas in Godavarikhani, Ramagundam, Peddapalli, Jagtial, Korutla, Vemulawada, Sircilla, Huzurabad, Jammikunta and Manakonduru constituencies. The Singareni Collieries employees wore black badges.