Rail Roko peaceful, huge response

The Rail Roko call given by the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee on Tuesday received tremendous response across the Telangana region, with separate statehood activists disrupting train services by squatting on the tracks since early morning.

Rail traffic was thrown out of gear after the South Central Railways was forced to cancel 23 Express trains coming from various parts to the state capital following the Rail Roko. The cancellation of the MMTS services also caused immense inconvenience to inter-city commuters.

The cancelled trains include AP Express, Satavahana Express, Palnad Express, Golkonda Express, Simhapuri Express, Gautami Express and Shirdi Sainagar Express.

According to reports coming from Warangal, the pro-Telangana activists stopped a goods train in Nekkonda in Narsampeta mandal, while at Moulali, the activists stopped the Godavari Express heading towards Hyderabad from Visakhapatnam. Activists also stopped the Narayanadri Express at Chityal.

The rail roko call saw the activists converging at the Nizamabad and Adilabad stations since early morning and squatting on the track.

Leading the protestors at Bibinagar was Telangana Jagruthi president K Kavitha who stopped a goods train.

TDP activists were not to be left behind, with them taking part in the rail roko agitation at Secunderabad station.

Apart from reports of an Inspector being slapped at Madira in Khammam district by a woman named Sirisha after he allegedly manhandled her following a heated argument, the rail roko agitation passed away peacefully.

Sirisha is believed to be a member of the Human Rights Forum. She was arrested and shifted to a nearby police station.

At Masaipet in Veldurthi mandal in Medak district, the activists burnt tyres on the track.

At Madira in Khammam district the agitation turned violent as the Telangana activists had a heated argument with police.

In Nalgonda district the villagers pitched tents on railway tracks and prepared food under vanta varpu and played games on the track.

Meanwhile, the State Road Transport Corporation had made elaborate arrangements to cope with the additional number of passengers expected. The APSRTC was running additional services to all Telangana districts following the Rail Roko agitation call.