Tirupati: The Telangana row has now reached the Tirumala Venkateswara temple at Tirupati.

Thousands of devotees were forced to trek their way to the hill abode of Lord Balaji today because public buses were off the road, something that has not happened in the last 40 years.

That’s because employees of the state road transport corporation went on strike here, just like in all of the rest of the 13 southern and coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, because they want the state to remain united.

The Centre’s announcement last month of Telangana as the country’s 29th state is being opposed stridently by people from the other two regions of coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, collectively referred to as Seemandhra.

“The trains were also crowded and with great difficulty we got here, only to find the buses are not running. So now there is no option but to walk. I have a knee problem, but what to do now to get darshan,” said 65-year-old Veeraiah.

With petrol pumps also shut in support of the strike, fuel was in short supply. That made hiring private vehicles unaffordable for most. So young and old, the able and not-so-able, had little option but to trek up the nine kilometres.

A petrol pump owner admitted that they have also shut down in support of the strike for keeping the state united, leading to shortage of petrol and diesel.

Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) unions say in order to show solidarity with all employees from Seemandhra, all buses in the region are off the road, so they have no choice. They also warned the management against hiring inexperienced, temporary drivers, saying the ghat road is dangerous and it could lead to accidents.

Nearly 500 buses ply on the Tirumala-Tirupati route carrying 90-95,000 people up and down the hill every day.

About 11,000 buses out of the 22,000 in the state are off the road as part of a call for indefinite strike called by the Seemandhra government employees union. The APSRTC, that is already bleeding, is losing Rs. 9-10 crore every day.