With the Telangana protagonists threatening to obstruct the Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers (APNGOs) from reaching Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad to attend the ‘Save Andhra Pradesh’ meeting Saturday, the employees are taking various means of transport to reach the venue under any circumstances, and make it a grand success.
While a few NGOs already left for the capital city from various parts of coastal Andhra districts, several others would reach Hyderabad Friday. Sources said that a large number of APNGOs booked train tickets in bulk to reach Hyderabad including Janmabhoomi, which departs from major stations like Visakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Vijayawada, and Guntur.
Those from Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Prakasam and twin Godavari districts reached the railway junctions Thursday night itself and are planning to reach the capital city by Friday evening. About 7,500 employees from the twin Godavari districts have booked bulk tickets for trains and private buses in advance.
“As the bandh will come into effect from Friday midnight, we plan to reach Hyderabad before evening. Our aim is to reach LB Stadium by Saturday afternoon. We plan to start off Friday itself and reach the capital city by evening to avoid any hurdles. Arrangements have been made to this effect already,” APNGOs Visakhapatnam district secretary T Gopalakrishna said.
The APNGOs are understood to have approached the police top brass, who in turn assured to provide ample protection once the employees reach Hyderabad following the directions of the state government.
About 20 private buses from each district in the coastal region have been engaged to transport the employees to Hyderabad. The employees are planning to avoid main roads and take long but parallel routes to the capital city in the wake of threats made by Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) and Osmania University JAC.
“We made arrangements to stay at our relatives’ and friends’ places in Hyderabad. A few government employees residing in Hyderabad are also providing accommodation and food for their colleagues from coastal Andhra,” said an NGO leader from Vijayawada.