The situation in crisis-hit Andhra Pradesh continued to be nightmarish on Wednesday with talks having failed between Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and striking employees of power utilities in the state. The deadlock has led to a total blackout in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions.

YSR Congress President Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, continuing his indefinite fast for the fifth day despite failing health, is leading over 600,000 government servants and teachers in the the two-month old strike that seems has bleak prospects of an immediate solution. To top it all, north coastal Andhra is faced with the threat of a cyclone battering it in the next couple of days. A depression formed in the Bay of Bengal is likely to intensify into a cyclone and is expected to cross the Odisha and Andhra coast sometime on Saturday. All the three north coastal Andhra districts comprising Visakapatnam, Srikakulam and Vizianagaram would be the worst-hit in the cyclone.

Kiran Reddy, who held talks with leaders of the Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association (APNGOs) on Wednesday, however, managed to extract some concession from the striking government employees.

APNGOs leader Ashok Babu later told mediapersons that should the situation take a serious turn because of the cyclone, government employees from key departments like revenue and medical health would assist the government in relief and rescue operations. “We will render assistance without stopping our agitation. Our concession is purely in response to the chief minister’s call for help on humanitarian grounds,” he said.

Meanwhile, the indefinite strike by power sector employees which entered the fourth day on Wednesday has not only thrown normal life out of gear in Seemandhra but has severely affected essential services.