TRS, BJP block roads, demand Telangana bill

Stepping up the agitation for introduction of a bill for the formation of Telangana state in the budget session of Parliament, activists of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Bharatiya Janata Party, and several other organisations staged road blockades across the region on Monday.

Road traffic was badly affected in various towns and villages in the region, as the Telangana supporters blocked traffic following the call given by the Telangana political joint action committee.

JAC convener M Kodandaram, BJP leader N Indrasena Reddy and several other leaders blocked traffic at the busy L B Nagar junction in Hyderabad. Demanding that the Centre table the Telangana bill, Kodandaram warned that the agitation will be intensified by starting relay hunger strikes from January 21. Along with other protestors he was removed from the place and taken to a nearby police station.

The protesters conducted similar road blockades at other places in the city too.

TRS member of legislative assembly D Vinay Bhaskar and BJP leaders led the protest at a busy road in Warangal, while another TRS MLA and party president K Chandrasekhar Rao's nephew T Harish Rao organised protests in Medak district. A report from Karimnagar said TRS MLA and Chandrasekhar Rao' son K T Rama Rao staged a sit-in at his Sircilla assembly constituency in the district.

Senior officials of the state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation said that traffic was not affected due to the road blockades as the protests were brief. "The buses and other vehicles were not stopped for more than 30 minutes. Policemen were also regulating traffic. So, there are no reports of any detention of buses for long time," an official said.

About 1,000 buses enter Hyderabad daily and the same continued on Monday too, he said. "Only from Khammam, we have a report that buses were detained for long," he said.

Meanwhile, a spokesman of the state-run coal mining company Singareni Collieries said transportation of coal was not affected due to the protests. "On an average 2,500 coal-laden trucks ply out of the mines. We have not received any reports of disruption of transportation," he said.

Singareni Collieries is situated in Telangana region and its workers form a substantial support base for the separate statehood agitation.