Samaikyandhra protests continue

Students, teachers, employees, mass organisations join protest

Vijayawada: The agitation for Samaikyandhra is getting intensified with different sections of the people and mass organisations joining the struggle every day. Though the agitation was started by students and later followed by the non-gazetted officers’ association, the associations of various government departmental associations, trade unions, associations of professionals and mass organizations like taxi drivers, owners, hotel owners, mutha workers from the unorganised sector, tailors, shop employees have joined the agitation in the last two days intensifying the impact.

With no political involvement and no common leadership, the rallies and road blockade by these groups are held at different places at different times. The film exhibitors in the district have closed their theatres for one day, while gold merchants, cloth merchants too closed their markets in support of the bandh.

Rallies and human chains are being held at different places to express their protest against the decision to divide the State.
The TDP had initially joined the protest to condemn the statement of Telangana Rastra Samithi chief K Chandrasekhar Rao on the Seemandhra employees and stopped RTC buses at all depots across the district.

However, they have now extended the agitation to the cause of Seemandhra and are holding protests separately as the groups are not taking them into confidence. On its part, the Congress leaders too are holding token protests on their own against division of the State and the YSR Congress too does the same not joining with any of the organised groups. The employees led by the Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association, are mobilizing support for their indefinite strike scheduled to start from the mid-night of August 12.

The municipal employees, revenue, agriculture, excise and prohibition, commercial taxes and other departments have also extended support to the strike posing a greater threat to the government in terms of law and order and financial loss to various departments. The APSRTC is set to be the major victim of the proposed strike as the employees have served strike notice and would be on the roads keeping the busses in the depots. People are set to have tough time with the major transporter, RTC, keeping its buses off the road indefinitely.

It is to be seen how the government would be handling the proposed strike and the mass agitations in the next week.