According to an estimate in Hyderabad alone revenue losses due to non-functioning of the transport and registration departments amounted to Rs 50 crore per day. The total halt to the liquor sales is making the State poorer by Rs 120 crore per day. On Saturday alone the loss to state transport corporation APSRTC was put at around Rs15 crore. The ongoing property tax collection in all major municipalities and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation too has come to a grinding halt with ‘nill’ collections.
The districts of Nizamabad, Warrangal, Khammam, Medak, Adilabad and Karimnagar have been witness to pro-Telangana demonstrations. In Nizamabad, teachers held rasta-roko protests on national and state highways. In Mahbubnagar agitators locked the doors of all government offices on Saturday.
In Adilabad the miners of the crucial Sinagareni Collieries refused to work and played games protesting the failure of the UPA government failing to introduce the separate Telangana bill in the Budget session. In Karimnagar vehicular traffic on highways went haywire due to day long ‘Maha Dharna’ organized by the JAC. The TRS and TDP activists resorted to fistfights in Karimnagar.
Adding to the government’s woes, the JAC has called for a “total bundh” on February22 and 23. The railway services are also likely to be hit by the bundh. TJAC convener Kodandaram said: “The agitators will only allow water, electricity and medical departments to work, remaining all will stop for 48 hours.”
Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, meanwhile, has held an emergency level meeting with the DGP Aravinda Rao to take stock of the situation.