Telangana bandh hits normal life

May 29, 2014

Hyderabad, May 29: The day-long shutdown called by TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday protesting the Centre’s ordinance to hand over 200 villages of Telangana to Andhra Pradesh for Polavaram irrigation project, affected normal life.

Buses of state-owned Road Transport Corporation (RTC) went off the roads in all 10 districts including Hyderabad. Shops, hotels and business establishments were also shutdown in many parts of Telangana.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) leaders sat in protest outside the RTC depots since early on Thursday to prevent buses from coming out.

Bus services from Hyderabad to various destinations in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were suspended. The city services of the RTC in Hyderabad and Secunderabad were also hit, causing inconvenience to commuters.

The Board of Intermediate Education postponed advanced supplementary examinations of 11th and 12th standards scheduled on Thursday.

The Telangana Chief Minister-designate called the shutdown to protest an ordinance issued by the Centre to transfer 205 villages of Khammam district of Telangana to adjoining state of Andhra Pradesh.

The Chief Minister-designate has termed the ordinance as unconstitutional and said the Centre can’t take such a step without consulting the two states, which will formally come into being on June 2.

A complete shutdown was being observed in Khammam district, especially in Bhadrachalam and Palvancha divisions. About two lakh people, mostly tribals, who inhibit the villages are strongly opposing the Centre’s move, which is said to be aimed at avoiding an interstate dispute over the project coming up across Godavari river in Andhra Pradesh.

The construction of the project is likely to submerge the villages and to avoid any interstate dispute, they are being merged with Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister elect N. Chandrababu Naidu has asked his Telangana counterpart to avoid politicising Polavaram project and making provocative statements.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief wanted to know why TRS president Mr. Rao kept quiet when the previous government announced national status to Polavaram and also declared that the villages would be merged with Andhra Pradesh.

Mr. Naidu said he would extend full cooperation to Telangana if Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao focused on the development of the new state.

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Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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