Telangana bandh: 2 coaches of passenger train set on fire

“Some agitators set fire to a coach of the passenger train and it spread to another coach,however,no passenger is hurt as all passengers had alighted from the coach,” SCR Chief Public Relations Officer,Chandrima Roy,said.

Fire-dousing was going on,she said.

Agitators had allegedly removed fish plates of the railway track at Hasanaparthy in the district yesterday.

To intensify the agitation for separate statehood for the region,the Telangana Joint Action Committee is observing a two-day bandh in all 10 districts of Telangana since yesterday,demanding introduction of separate Telangana Bill in the ongoing budget session of Parliament.

Normal life remained disrupted in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh today on the second day of the 48-hour bandh called by Telangana groups in support of their demand for introduction of a bill for separate statehood.

Schools,colleges,shops and other commercial establishments remained closed and public transport buses largely remained off the roads with some pro-Telangana workers unions participating in the shut down.

People,who arrived in the city from far off places at the Secunderabad railway station,headquarters of South Central Railway,and the Mahatma Gandhi bus station here,had difficulty in reaching their destinations as city buses and auto rickshaws were not available.

The state government employees in Telangana region have already been organising a non-cooperation agitation in support of the separate statehood demand.

Police made elaborate security arrangements and imposed traffic restrictions near the state assembly buildings in view of the bandh.

According to reports from Telangana districts like Karimnagar,Warangal,Medak,normal life was paralysed due to the shut down. There were no reports of violence from anywhere in the region in the morning hours.

Students had clashed with security personnel in the Osmania University in Hyderabad yesterday and sporadic attacks on buses and other public property also took place.

TRS leaders including T Harish Rao and Telangana political Joint Action Committee (JAC) convener M Kodandaram were taken into custody and later released by police.

The shut down was called by the JAC that comprises TRS,BJP and a number of people’s organisations. CPI has also extended support to the shut down.

Maintaining that the shut down was a grand success,the TRS and the JAC have asked people to support the bandh today as well.