The Telangana proponents appeared to have won the first round on Tuesday, despite the State Government’s projections to the contrary.

Defying the Government’s warnings of stringent action against all those joining the stir, thousands of government employees stayed away from their regular work. And several of those who did make it to their respective offices, went a step ahead by staging lunch-hour demonstrations raising pro-Telangana slogans.

Buoyed by the `tremendous response’ to Monday’s Telangana Janagarjana programme in Karim Nagar, the Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (TE-JAC) launched an all-out attack against what they called anti-Telangana elements.

It was such a big success that the Committee President Swamy Goud claimed that the first day of the general strike had evoked mind-boggling response in all the districts in the region, including at Hyderabad.

The protestors across the region condemned the State Government for foisting false cases against employees to water down the agitation. They demanded the Union Government to introduce the Telangana Bill in the Parliament respecting sentiments of region people.

They appealed to Seemandhra employees not to discharge the duties of Telangana employees as it would not be a wise move, in the given circumstances.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy put up a brave face. By stating that he had no inkling of the strike, Mr Reddy made his critics lash out at him as he had only 24 hours back warned of the imposition of the `no work, no pay’ rule as ordered by the Andhra Pradesh High Court in its interim order on August 16.

In a major embarrassment to the State Government, the scheduled general body meeting of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has been deferred. Originally meant for Thursday, the decision to postpone the crucial meeting has necessitated following demands by a section of the employees.

In another setback, production at the SCCL came to a halt with 69,000 workers going on strike. Plants at 18 mines, spread across four adjoining districts, remained non-functional. Consequently, the thermal power plant at Ramagundam remained silent affecting several critical sections that are dependent on the power generation from Ramagundam.

Although, APSRTC plied its buses on all routes, things could get worse on September 18 when RTC employees from Telangana join the stir, honouring their earlier announcement.

The government’s claim that all was well remains dubious as the administrative functioning at the seat of power, Secretariat, came to a grinding halt. (INN)