By IANS,
Hyderabad : Normal life came to a standstill in parts of Andhra Pradesh Tuesday as a 48-hour shutdown began to demand a bill in parliament for the formation of a separate Telangana state.
Transport services in Hyderabad and nine other districts of the Telangana region were paralysed while shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed.
Buses of state-owned Road Transport Corporation (RTC) could not come out of the depots since early Tuesday as the shutdown called by Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) evoked a total response across the region.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and other pro-Telangana parties and groups are participating in the strike while the Communist Party of India (CPI) is backing it.
TRS activists took out rallies in different parts of Medak, Nizamabad, Warangal and Karimnagar districts to force the closure of shops.
Police arrested TRS legislator Harish Rao in Secunderbad when he was leading a
motorcycle rally.
The shutdown call evoked partial response in Hyderabad. While RTC suspended all its services to different parts of Telangana and also to Andhra and Rayalaseema regions, it was plying few services in the city.
Educational institutions in the state capital declared a holiday as a precautionary measure. Shops and business establishments were closed in some areas while the shutdown had not much impact in other areas.
The coal production in state-owned Singareni Collieries Company came to a halt as about 70,000 employees joined the Telangana strike. The production in the coal mines spread over four districts of Adilabad, Khammam, Karimnagar and Warangal was affected.