HYDERABAD: Monday morning was business as usual for denizens despite a call for bandh. The city seemed to have finally broken free from the spell of serial strikes of the last one month. An autorickshaw strike was also called but auto-drivers too went about their job. RTC buses, which were back on roads on Sunday after a long break, also plied defying the bandh.There have been 14 bandh calls this year till date and on several of these occasions, shops functioned with half-opened shutters and a few others started business later in the afternoon after the bandh cooled down. On Monday, however, shops and other business establishments functioned normally since morning. Even banks were open for transactions.Telangana RTC JAC K Hanumanthu said the RTC staff did not call for a bandh anywhere but simply supported the Telangana political JAC wherever they stopped the buses. As the evening set, vehicular traffic increased and the day looked like any other weekday with traffic congestions at various junctions.The bandh call evoked little response from educational institutions too as most of them fell in line after the government announced the possibility of derecognizing them if they failed to reopen.“High school is a crucial time for students as it lays the foundation for all competitive exams. Agitations should not be hampering the education of our children,” said PVN Raju, whose daughters study at Sri Chaitanya Techno School. Voicing his displeasure at the loss caused by the nearly month-long break, he said it was difficult to get the children back on track after a gap. Most of the schools functioned as scheduled despite the shutdown, while a handful chose to avert the risk. “Amidst confusion regarding the situation, we decided to keep the school closed for the day. I hope they keep educational institutions out of this in future,” commented principal of Chinmaya Vidyalaya M Varalakshmi. Police personnel were stationed outside some of the schools to avert trouble. “Our school buses are plying as usual and we conducted classes. However, we were flooded with calls from concerned parents,” said Madhavi Chandra, principal of Gitanjali School.With the restored APSRTC services, it is back to business for schools and colleges across the city. Junior college students were worried as most of the corporate colleges in the city were unable to conduct examinations during the past few weeks. The half-yearly examinations for final year students could be postponed due to shortage of time. Practicals for the science stream haven’t begun in quite a few colleges due to the frequent shutdowns.“I am panicky as we have lost almost a month of classes. The syllabus for the quarterlies have not been completed and our mid-term examinations scheduled for September 28 were also postponed. I am worried about my performance in the AIEEE national entrance as we will be saddled with lab-work and syllabus for the intermediate exams once the colleges reopen,” said Aashna Joshi, student of intermediate final-year at Sri Chaitanya Junior College. Going by the scenes on Monday, it appears that the strikes and bandhs are a thing of the past.
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