Strike for new state hits southern India

New Delhi - Train and bus services were canceled and businesses and schools closed Wednesday across large parts of India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh during a daylong strike called by supporters of a new state. Security was tightened and thousands of paramilitary and police personnel were deployed to prevent violence.

Various political parties, including the Telangana Rashtra Samiti, are spearheading the movement for a Telangana state and called the strike after the federal government put the creation of the state on the back burner.

Fearing violence, Andhra Pradesh's government canceled 165 trains and 9,000 buses plying the Telangana region, which consists of 10 northern districts, hampering the movement of an estimated 4 million passengers.

Petrol stations, banks, offices and educational institutions in the main city of Hyderabad as well as other major cities and towns also were closed.

Government employees, lawyers and industrial workers also went on strike to back the statehood demand.

The shutdown, the fifth since the agitation began a month ago, also affected the work of information-technology companies in Hyderabad, one of India's key technology hubs.

On December 9, Indian Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram announced that a new state of Telangana would be carved out of Andhra Pradesh.

But last week, Chidambaram said the situation had "altered" and there was a need to hold wide-ranging consultations with all political parties and groups in the state.

The move sparked violent protests during which Telangana activists set buses and trucks on fire and attacked shops and businesses.

India now has 28 states, and the last three new states - Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand - were formed in 2000. The South Asian country had 16 states in 1971.

The movement for a separate Telangana state dates back 50 years.

Supporters said Telangana has been neglected and is among India's poorest and most economically backward regions. They asserted that the region can only be developed if local people control its administration.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301471,strike-for-new-state-hits-southern-india.html.