A majority of shops, commercial establishments, cinema theatres, petrol bunks and educational institutions remained shut on Friday.
Barring a few incidents, the Hyderabad and Secunderabad bandh went off peacefully on Friday.
A majority of shops, commercial establishments, cinema theatres, petrol bunks and educational institutions remained shut.
The bandh call was given by the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee, as part of the Sakala Janula Samme (or the "people's general strike"), which entered its 18th day on Friday, demanding statehood for the Telangana region.
The buses of the state-owned Road Transport Corporation remained off the roads for the 12th consecutive day. The medical strike, too, entered its 9th day on Friday.
However, a major part of the Old City of Hyderabad remained open. Attempts by BJP workers to enforce the bandh in some Old City areas were foiled by local shopkeepers, leading to some tension. However, with police intervention, the situation was immediately brought into control.
People have been put to inconvenience in finding transportation in the city for the last 12 days due to RTC strike, and things did not change on Friday.
Some auto-rickshaws which plied on the city roads charged exorbitant rates. Meanwhile, the RTC used private drivers to operated nearly 300 buses on some major routes.
Although a majority of private educational institutions declared a holiday on Friday, others conducted the last paper of the academic year's quarterly examination and declared Dussehra holidays till 10 October.
The police had made elaborate security arrangements across the twin cities. Police pickets were deployed at all sensitive locations, and mobile teams intensified patrolling in politically sensitive areas.
The South Central Railway suspended all MMTS services in the twin cities throughout the day. Initially, the services were cancelled till 12 noon. After a review, the services were kept suspended for the day.
The attendance in the state Secretariat remained thin. With Telangana employees on strike, only a few employees hailing from the Seemandhra regions attended duties.
They were brought in RTC buses escorted by policemen and Rapid Action Force personnel.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, too, went to work amidst heavy security, at C-Block in the Secretariat.
However, attendance in private commercial establishments remained unaffected. (INN)