The ongoing strike by power sector employees in Seemandhra has severely hit hospital services
Talks between Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and striking power sector employees, agitating against the creation of a Telangana state, yesterday remained inconclusive. The indefinite protests by around 30,000 government employees from the Seemandhra region has led to massive power outages, crippling normal life across the state.
Here are the latest developments:
The Chief Minister is due to hold another round of talks with the electricity employees on Wednesday in a bid to end the impasse. The power crisis has hit the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions - collectively known as Seemandhra - the hardest, disrupting essential services. The state capital of Hyderabad is also experiencing extended power cuts.
A worried Centre has indicated that it may impose the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) to restore the power situation in the state. "State government is in talks with stake holders over ESMA," Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said. (Track updates)
Mr Shinde, though, ruled out the imposition of President's Rule in the state that has been marred by massive, violent protests over the government's decision to bifurcate it to create the new state of Telangana.
Hospitals in Seemandhra, especially, have been badly hit. Incubators at Vishakhapatnam's King George Hospital, the city's only super-specialty government hospital, are not working properly. The lack of air conditioning has also affected patients with burn injuries and other such ailments.
Airports in Seemandhra are operating on backup systems. Train services have been the worst hit, forcing the East Coast Railway to either cancel or reschedule important trains. Cellular phone services are down across much of the state; internet and ATM services have also been affected.
About 4,000 MW of power generation has been impacted due to the ongoing agitation. (Read) Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala have written to the central electricity authority warning of a possible failure of the Southern Power Grid, which could lead to a total blackout across all southern states. Mr Shinde, though, said that "there is no threat to the southern grid as yet."
The precautionary curfew in Vizianagaram in coastal Andhra - epicentre of the protests for a united state - was lifted for an hour on Tuesday morning. The curfew, which entered its fourth day yeterday, was clamped following violence last week.
The Congress has indicated that it will not change its decision on Telangana. "Congress is a national party, how can it change its decision?" senior party leader Digvijaya Singh said.
He also expressed surprise at what he called a U-turn by YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy and TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu on the statehood issue. Both leaders, on an indefinite hunger strike in Hyderabad and New Delhi respectively, had agreed to the formation of a separate state earlier, according to the Congress. (Read)
Mr Naidu hit back, saying the Congress had no business pointing fingers at the TDP when its own party members were questioning the decision on Telangana.
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