After two months, buses return on Seemandhra roads

After two long months, buses of state-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corp (APSRTC) returned on the roads of Seemandhra Saturday as the employees called off their strike.

Over 12,000 buses came out of depots in the 13 districts of Seemandhra, as Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra regions are together known.

Bus services also resumed between Hyderabad and Seemandhra, providing much needed relief to people and restoring some normalcy in the region, witnessing protests for the last two months over the decision to carve out a separate Telangana state.

The workers called off their strike following talks with Transport M Minister Botsa Satyanarayana, APSRTC managing director A.K. Khan and other officials Friday night. 

The government also agreed to consider all service related demands of the employees.

The government had appealed to the employees to return to work in view of the severe cyclonic threat to the coastal region and also in view of the puja holidays.

The two-month-long strike caused severe hardships to people in the sprawling region of over five crore population and also resulted in loss of over Rs.700 crore to APSRTC.

The APSRTC workers along with the other government employees were on strike since Aug 12 to demand that Andhra Pradesh should not be split up.

Electricity employees Friday returned to work after a five-day strike while teachers have also called off their nearly two-month long strike.

However, other government employees have decided to continue the protest till a clear assurance is provided that the state will not be divided.