Protests against Telangana: Seemandhra simmers

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Hyderabad: The general strike of government employees continued to paralyse life in Andhra and Rayalaseema regions for the second consecutive day on Wednesday.
Buses were off the road in the two regions except for the Tirumala service. 
The Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation and the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams reached an agreement to allow the striking employees to operate services to the temple town.
Finance minister Anam Ramanarayan Reddy was mobbed by women government employees at the Secretariat who repeatedly asked him why he hadn’t resigned. The minister tried to brush them off but when the women followed him to the lift, he got irritated and asked one of them to show her resignation letter.
I-Day fete may ease tension over division
There were tense moments in Kakinada where newly-elected sarpanch T. Saraswati, wife minister T. Narasimham, has been on indefinite fast for the past five days. Doctors are concerned at her deteriorating health.
In Visakhapatnam, the administration suffered and collection of various taxes and fees went down by 70 per cent. Students of Andhra University boycotted classes and took part in the agitation.
In Vijayawada, the atmosphere is likely to heat up with the Telugu Desam and YSR Congress leaders planning indefinite fasts.
YSRC honourary president Y.S. Vijayalakshmi will go on indefinite fast from August 19, and the TD’s D. Uma Maheswara Rao and D. Narendra will begin theirs on Thursday.
In Hyderabad, agitating employees in Bhima Bhavan and Vidyut Soudha from both camps almost came to blows.
Things are expected to ease on Thursday with the agitating employees agreeing to join in Independence Day celebrations and the AP Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association agreeing to represent their grievances to the A.K. Antony Committee appointed by the Congress leadership to look into the concerns of Seemandhra regions.
The APNGOs, along with the Revenue Services Association and Secretariat Seemandhra Employees’ Forum will go to Delhi to meet the panel members.
The employees were asked to consider this option by the Group of Ministers at a meeting held at the Secretariat on Wednesday attended by Deputy CM Damodar Raja Narasimha and Ramanarayan Reddy.
Four ministers — N. Raghuveera Reddy, P. Satyanarayana, K. Murali and N. Uttam Kumar Reddy — skipped the meeting.
Seemandhra employees in the Secretariat continued their agitation and ate lunch on the road leading to the main gate.