TRS supporters detain trains for several hours

The public transport system in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh bore the brunt on the second day of the 48-hours strike called by the Telangana Rashtra Samithi in support of a separate state.

With thousands of buses of state-owned Road Transport Corporation and the public operators staying off the roads, lakhs of passengers were stuck in Hyderabad and nine other districts of the regions since Sunday. The train service was also badly hit on Monday, as TRS workers and other supporters of Telangana state sat on the rail tracks in many places, especially in the Warangal and Karimnagar districts.

As a result, several long-distance trains were running late by seven to eight hours. Secunderabad-New Delhi AP Express was stopped for several hours at Kazipet junction in Warangal, and at Uppal station in Karimnagar district by TRS supporters causing immense difficulties to the passengers.

They could not get even drinking water at the station where several other trains had also stopped. The Kerala Express, Rajdhani Express and Gorakhpur Express were also stopped by the agitators shouting slogans in support of Telangana and TRS president K Chandrasekhara Rao, who was on fast unto death for the last nine days.