A Perspective on Vizag
Bandh passes off peacefully with no untoward incident reported
Visakha City, January 5, 2010
The Samaikyandhra bandh in the city passed off peacefully and no untoward incident reported from anywhere in the city. The people of the city voluntarily participated and business persons shut down their shops and establishments and offices wore a bare look. In all the Visakhapatnam APSRTC Region has withdrawn a total number of 1042 buses and by the evening restored 245 buses.
The autos are also away from the roads. Banks and ATMs were closed. Financial transactions have come to a stand still. Cine theatres have not exhibited their morning and afternoon shows in the city and petrol bunks are also closed. However, vehicle owners have to face some inconvenience due to closure of petrol bunks. Due to Sankranti season, business people faced losses due to closure of cloth shops and jewelery shops. Due to the day's bandh, sources says that the APSRTC has suffered a loss of Rs.40 lakhs.
In support of Samaikyandhra, MLAs Dronam Raju Srinivasa Rao, T Vijaya Kumar, M Vijaya Prasad took out a rally from district Congress office to Jagadamba junction along with the followers. Under the leadership of TDP MLA V Ramakrishna Babu, offices, shops and hotels were shut down. AU Engineering College main entrance was closed by the JAC leaders. However, BJP, CPI, CPI(M) leaders have not participated in the bandh. As a precautionary measure, the police utilized the service of 2,000 police personnel.
The Rail roko organized by JAC was successful thought it created trouble for commuters with many trains canceled.