HYDERABAD: This weekend might just be unlike any other in recent memory! APSRTC buses are anyway off the roads. Now, there won’t be any auto-rickshaws or MMTS trains either.For those with travel plans, a number of trains have either been cancelled/partially cancelled/ diverted. And then, there’s the OU students’ threat to shut down petrol stations in the city.Employees, who have a weekend holiday, may just relax at home. The unlucky ones like K Swathi, a resident of Dilsukhnagar who works in ECIL, have no other option but to take leave.“Monday is my weekly off but I am going to take leave due to the 48-hr strike by auto-drivers,” she said.B Rajendher, an animation artist at DataQuest, has no such luxury.“I requested friends, who have bikes to drop me at office,” he said and felt the State and Central governments should act fast so that the aam aadmi doesn’t suffer.B Spandan, a resident of Masab Tank and a PO at the Syndicate Bank, echoed the same views. “I support the T demand but this is not the way,” he opined.Fo r a f ew l i k e V Jwalamukhi, a techie at Mahendra Satyam, there is no problem.“I had weekend plans.Now, I have to cancel them all.But since the strike is for a genuine cause, this is the least I can do to help,” he said.The autodrivers, who have decided to join the Telangana Sakala Janula Samme for 48-hrs from Friday midnight, too appeared wary of the prospect of losing their daily income.B Ravi Kumar, who lives near the Charminar, candidly admitted, “I earn about Rs 500 per day minus the rent and diesel charges.My family is completely dependent on what I earn. I will see tomorrow’s condition. If possible I will run the auto.” Krishna, another driver from Ramanthapur, conceded that it would be a problem for both commuters as well as the drivers.“But what can we do?” he wondered. The AP Auto Drivers’ Federation along with 20 unions including the AP Auto Drivers’ Joint Action Committee has called for the 48-hr strike. “We are observing the bandh as part of the Sakala Janula Samme ,” said federation general secretary P Satti Reddy.He added, “If the TJAC asks us to extend the strike, we will do it.” Asked if it won’t hurt the auto-drivers, he replied, “for two days, they have to manage their families.”
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