PEOPLE HAVE felt a sigh of relief, as after 28 days of the pro-Telangana strike the state-owned Road Transport Corporation busses have returned to the roads in the Telangana region. RTC Trade unions have decided to defer their strike because of the agony suffered by ordinary people for the last one month.

For the last one month there have been no busses plying in Telangana districts. All the RTC busses remained in the garages in Telangana districts during the strike period, and busses from Vijayawada and other coastal districts to Hyderabad were stopped by Telangana sympathizers. In fact, some private super deluxe busses have been operating thereby reducing the burden of the people - though the operators of the busses were charging double and triple the usual bus rates. Only trains had helped the common people but due to heavy demand for rail tickets hundreds of people could not travel. Airlines also collected a minimum Rs. 10,000 for a flight from Hyderabad to Vijayawada, Rajahmundry and Visakhapatnum.

Hyderabad commuters underwent a bad experience in these last 28 days of the strike. Every common man had to pay, daily, hundreds of rupees to auto rickshaw walllas as travelling charges in view of lack of availability of city busses. Administration is still crippled as state government employees are still on strike. Teachers have decided to work without pay so as not to disturb studies of children. The employees of the Singareni coal mine are yet to end their strike, which is affecting production of electricity in Andhra Pradesh and other states.