The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Bandh complete, peaceful in Kakinada, Vizianagaram

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Tuesday, Jul 20, 2010
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Bandh complete, peaceful in Kakinada, Vizianagaram

Staff Reporter

Activists prevent the movement of autorickshaws too in some areas

KAKINADA: The daylong bandh was complete and peaceful in the town on Monday. As part of State-level bandh call given by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) condemning the arrest a team of its leaders headed by the party president N. Chandrababu Naidu by the Maharashtra police, the party activists observed bandh here.

Traders did not open their shops and establishments, while the TDP activists prevented the movement of buses being operated by the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC). The ever-busy bus station wore a deserted look and all the buses were being parked on the sprawling premises.

The TDP activists divided into small groups and visited all the areas from the early hours of the day.

They closed the gates of the offices of many government and private sector organisations. Banks and other financial institutions were closed for the day, while the managements of private schools announced holiday in the wake of bandh call. The government schools sent the students back, as the activists sought the closure of all schools.

The activists prevented the movement of auto-rickshaws too in some areas. Eateries and tea stalls too were closed during the daytime. However, normalcy restored by the evening with the APSRTC resuming some long service buses and some traders were opening their shops.

VIZIANAGARAM: The response to the State-wide bandh called by Telugu Desam Party in protest against the Maharashtra Government's stand on the controversial Babli project issue was total and peaceful in the district. TDP leaders and cadres took out rallies, stopped private bus services and at a couple of places they organised rail-roko.

The State Road Transport Corporation operated its services after 2 pm.

In Vizianagaram, the party leaders Y. Ramana Murty, I.V.P. Raju, and Prasadula Ramakrishna went round the town on vehicles to enforce bandh in government offices. Educational institutions, banks and commercial establishments voluntarily closed shutters. Cinema theatres suspended morning shows. Howrah-Chennai Mail was stopped for over 20 minutes at the railway station here and DMU train at Parvathipuram. In the absence of RTC services villagers reached by trains here faced severe hardship.

Later, talking to correspondents, Mr. Ramana Murty, TDP State committee member, blamed the Centre and State governments for the present impasse and threatened to intensify the agitation if MLAs and MLCs led by party president N.Chandrababu Naidu were not allowed to inspect the Babli project. Police geared up bandobust at vantage points in the town and elsewhere. The scheduled inauguration at M.R. Post-graduate College and BSNL Advisory Committee meeting in which Botcha Jhansi Lakshmi, MP, was to participate were postponed.

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