State sees complete bandh

The government tried to run some buses under police escort on Saturday to counter the bandh call given by the the RTC trade unions joint action committee and supported by dozens of unions and political parties.

The experiment was tried out in some parts of the state but the government gave up the effort soon after. According to RTC sources, bus services were being operated in consultation with collectors and superintendents of police. Most buses stayed confined to the depots.

Normal life was paralysed across the state due to the bandh. In the most serious incident, traffic was stalled for about 5 km in the morning on the Vijayawada Highway when agitators squatted on the road in front of the Hayathnagar bus depot.

The bandh was by and large peaceful except for sporadic incidents where protesters pelted stones at RTC buses and deflated tyres of buses and autorickshaws. The bandh call was supported by cab aggregators such as Ola and Uber, private autos, transporters and others. Political parties, government employees unions, trade unions, sections of advocates and student groups also backed the bandh.

RTC JAC convener Ashwathama Reddy claimed the bandh was a grand success and said the strike would continue till the government called them for talks. He said the unions would hold a public meeting on the Osmania University campus on October 23.

Leaders of the RTC JAC, Congress, Telugu Desam, BJP, Left parties, Telangana Jana Samiti, trade unions and people’s organisations were taken into custody. A massive police force was deployed to avert any untoward incident. Section 144 barring the assembly of more than five persons was imposed at all bus depots. According to Mr Jitender, additional director general of law and order, police booked 124 cases of violation of prohibitory orders and around 4,000 people were taken into custody and released later.