Bus transport came to a grinding halt across Telangana on Tuesday as a two-day shutdown called by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) began in Hyderabad and nine other districts amid tight security.
State-owned Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) suspended all its services in Telangana districts and also the services which connect Telangana with Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Kurnool and other towns in Andhra and Rayalaseema.
APSRTC cancelled all its bus services in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad causing inconvenience to commuters.
Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station, the biggest bus station in the state here, wore a deserted look as all 3,500 services to various parts of Telangana and other parts of the state were cancelled. Similar was the situation at Jubilee Bus Station in Secunderabad.
South Central Railway (SCR) cancelled all Multi Modal Transit System (MMTS) or local trains in Hyderabad and Secunderabad as a precautionary measure.
Shops, business establishments, petrol bunks and educational institutions also remained closed in response to the shutdown, demanding the centre to table a bill in parliament to carve out a separate state of Telangana.
The shutdown evoked total response in Warangal, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Medak and Adilabad districts.
APSRTC employees, along with Telangana activists, staged protests outside bus depots in various towns.
Activists of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and other constituents of JAC took to streets to force the closure of shops in some districts. They were also seen stopping private vehicles.
The coal production in state-owned Singareni Collieries Company Limited came to a halt as the employees joined the strike. All the employees of the mines, spread over four districts, held protests.
All educational institutions remained closed in Hyderabad and nine other districts. Osmania University, Kakatiya University and Acharya N.G. Ranga Agriculture University cancelled the examinations scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.