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Day one of the general strike called by the Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee (JAC) seeking a separate state was near total in all the state government offices barring the Secretariat.
In Hyderabad, work in the transport offices, water board, various offices of the GHMC, government junior colleges and schools was completely paralysed while the medical staff at the government hospitals attended to their duties wearing black badges. Even as the state government preferred not to act on the first day of the strike, the JAC said that their agitation will go on till Telangana is achieved. A two-day closure of the cinema halls in the region has been called for beginning Wednesday while the APSRTC employees are expected to join in the stir on September 19.
The strike was near total in about 50 of Singareni collieries spread across four Telangana districts with the 70,000-odd workers (barring 2,500 officers) abstaining from work on Tuesday despite the state bringing them under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (Esma). As a result, production of 1.2 lakh tonnes of coal was lost on Tuesday. Singareni Collieries accounts for 35% of the total thermal power generation in the state and a power crisis could be in the offing if the strike by the coal miners continues for a few more days.
Staff of Hyderabad water works, Central Discom, civil supplies and GHMC participated in large numbers hitting the delivery of civic services. In Telangana region, staff in all municipalities joined the strike resulting in total shut down of sanitation works. The state Secretariat in Hyderabad was the only exception with 85% of the total 6,000 staff reporting for work on Tuesday. Sources in the chief minister's office said that Kiran Kumar Reddy is closely monitoring the situation and that a call would be taken as to when to invoke Esma and GO 177 (No Work No Pay) depending on the intensity of the general strike in the next few days.
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