Classes conducted on main roads

Vizianagaram: There is no slackening in the agitation against the proposed bifurcation of the State. The stir, which has been going on in Vizianagaram district as part of the Samaikyandhra movement in Seemandhra, entered the 28th day on Tuesday. The agitation has spread to every nook and corner of the district and people are coming onto the streets and launching protests voluntarily. Primarily, it is the students and government employees who are playing a pivotal role in taking the agitation forward. Students, in coordination with the Samaikyandhra Parirakshana Samithi, are launching various forms of protests throughout the district in favour of united Andhra Pradesh.

Employees of various government departments have been boycotting their duties for the last 15 days and participating in the agitation. As a result, administration has come to a virtual standstill in the district. Employees of the APSRTC too joined the movement demanding unified State. Consequently, all buses in the district were confined to the depots for the last 15 days, crippling the vital public transportation system. People were facing untold hardships due to lack of public transportation.

Protests were continuing unabated on a massive scale in the district headquarters. Private school managements, under the aegis of the Private Schools Joint Action Committee (JAC), conducted classes on the main roads. The managements have declared holidays for the schools for another one week. Overall, schools were open for only three days in the last one month.

Meanwhile, NGOs, who have been playing a key role in the Samaikyandhra agitation, organised ‘Vanta-Varpu’ programme near the Collectorate in which all employees participated. The relay hunger strike launched by gazetted officers entered second day. The relay fast undertaken by the advocates 28 days ago was also continuing.

Students of DIET private colleges took out a massive rally at Kota Junction and burnt the effigy of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao. Members of the Vysya Traders’ Sangham also organised a huge rally in support of united State. RTC workers organised a rally near the RTC Complex in the district headquarters.

Scores of workers of Telugu Desam Party took out a massive rally in which party politburo member Ashok Gajapatiraju participated. Elsewhere in the district, students organised massive protest rallies at Gummalakshmipuram and Kurupam.