Tourist services in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam city are adversely hit due to the strike called by the staff manning state-run hotels, motels, resorts and transport services. About 2,300 contract employees of Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) are on strike since last Thursday pressing for regularisation of their jobs.

A tourist guide at the famed Borra Caves here lamented that for the past two decades, he has been working as a guide and yet no licence has been issued to him. "I have been in service in this sector for the past 20 years and I have still not been given a permit. Six months back I wrote a letter requesting to give me a licensed permit, but of no avail. Therefore, all of us are observing state-wide strike," said Someshwar, a tourist guide.

APTDC manages 56 hotels and resorts and 140 tourist buses and coaches in the state. The strike has left the buses with no drivers, while the hotels had to be closed down. According to the striking staff, in Visakhapatnam division alone, 400 workers have put up more than ten years of service and are still not on permanent rolls of the APTDC. Tourists have been affected most by the indefinite strike.

Agencies