HYDERABAD: The Telangana Sakala Janula Samme hit transport services hard in the city on Monday as the National Mazdoor Union (NMU) T-forum extended its support to the strike. The usually bustling areas near the Secretariat, Ravindra Bharathi and Lakdi-ka-pul looked unusually calm with thin traffic flow. All the RTC services in the twin cities were off the roads.Setwin buses, which were overcrowded, made travelling possible albiet with some difficulty. K B Ramalingeswara Rao, librarian in Krishna’s Pragathi Institute of Technology, Rajahmundry had come to the city on work and was waiting at the bus stop near Ravindra Bharathi for a long time. He had to go to Secunderabad railway station and there was no bus in sight. Avoiding the exorbitant auto fare, he chose to wait for the bus. “Thankfully my train back to Rajahmundry is later in the evening. That gives me some breathing space,” he said. As expected, autos made the most of the bandh. Jyothi, corporate relations manager in Medwin Hospitals, had to shell out Rs 150 from Hayathnagar to Nampally this morning. On any other day, it would usually cost her `80-`90. “The problem due to the T-bandh is inevitable and there is no choice but to bear with it,” mused Absharth, a student of the Deccan School of Management. While she stood at a bus stop in Nampally, she hoped she wouldn’t have to take an auto and pinned her hopes on private buses.A few of the 7-seater autos, who entered the city limits in the hope of making some money in the absence of buses, were hauled up by the traffic police. This, despite permission given to the 7-seaters to ply on city roads by the authorities. Obviously, the orders haven’t percolated down to the traffic cops.Sub-inspector Ashanna said seven-seaters have not been allowed in the city limits despite the bandh. He observed that the traffic was very lean today. Has it made his job any easier? He laughs in response saying, “Traffic is thin but there are still vehicles on the road, my job remains the same.” The NMU T-forum co-convenor K Hanumanthu said the APSRTC bandh called by them has been successful and there were no buses plying in the city. A few private buses were also stopped, he said adding that the bandh will continue indefinitely with the support of RTC employees. There are 3,750 buses in Greater Hyderabad region out of which 40 were operated, according to APSRTC executive director Purushotham. The 40 buses too were pressed into service only for secretariat employees. These buses plied from areas such as Vanasthalipuram, NGO Colony, L B Nagar and B N Reddy Nagar to the Secretariat.
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