Chennai/Hyderabad, Apr 8 (Agencies): The Tamil Nadu government announced a solatium of Rs 300,000 to the kin of each of the 20 people gunned down in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh in what the police there said was a battle with smugglers of the prized Red Sanders wood.

The government and political parties in Tamil Nadu said those killed in the shootout in Chittoor were labourers and not smugglers. They demanded a probe independent of the AP government and by a Supreme Court judge.

The chairman of the National Human Rights Commision, Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, said in Delhi that the NHRC will examine whether the 'encounter' was genuine or fake. AP's Chief Secretary and the police chief have been issued notices on the incident. He said while the police will justify the incident, initial reports said that those killed were unarmed.

The protests in Tamil Nadu disrupted interstate bus services on Wednesday. The government-owned AP State Road Transport Corp pulled its buses off the roads in Tamil Nadu following reports of protestors throwing stones.

An APSRTC official said its buses have not been operating to Chennai and other places in Tamil Nadu since Tuesday night. APSRTC buses homebound from Chennai and other places were also off the road.

The APSRTC operates an extensive network of over 22,000 buses across the state and to neighbouring states.

G Maheshwara, manager of APSRTC’s Tirupati region, said 150 bus services, mostly from Chittoor, had been stopped and discussions are on with Tamil Nadu police for restoring services.

However, government and private buses belonging to Tamil Nadu are plying, he said.

Chandrasekhar, manager for the Nellore region, said there had been incidents of attacks on APSRTC buses and 40 buses belonging to various depots of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana had been stopped in Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus since Tuesday evening.

”Till the Tamil Nadu Police is not allowing the APSRTC bus services to ply they will remain suspended,” he said.

AP Police had claimed that the task force and forest personnel were on a joint combing operation when they spotted over 200 people felling trees.

The police said that when the woodcutters were told to surrender, they attacked the policemen and forest guards. The police party retaliated and 20 woodcutters were shot dead while the rest fled.