In a consolation to the people of Seemandhra, reeling under an indefinite power strike, the electricity employees today decided to suspend their agitation for an unspecified period. The decision from the JAC of electricity employees came after three rounds of extensive talks held by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in Hyderabad.

The employees took the decision keeping in view the festival season and also the impending threat from Cyclone Phailin to north and north coastal Andhra Pradesh. Weathermen predict the cyclone making its landfall on the night of October 12th between Kalingapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Paradip in Odisha.

As a result of the JAC decision, more than 50,000 electricity employees who went on strike last week, will resume work from 6 am tomorrow.

The leaders of the JAC however maintained that they were only keeping their stir in abeyance, paying heed to the chief minister’s request. They claimed that they would revive their strike, if need be, in future.

Thousands of villages, several municipalities and cities in the Seemandhra regions have been reeling under acute power shortage, as a consequence of the indefinite strike. The electricity employees began the shutdown demanding a unified Andhra Pradesh.

Power generation came to a grinding halt in thermal and hydel units. Work was also paralysed at thousands of sub-stations resulting in severe disruption of power transmission and distribution. The strike also began showing its impact on the southern power grid, prompting the state and the central governments to swing into quick damage-control measures.