Youth attempts self-immolation at OU campus

Tension escalated on the Osmania University campus after a youngster set himself ablaze when the police foiled attempts of the students to take out a rally to the State Assembly on Saturday afternoon.

The student, later identified as S. Yadagiri, (19) has suffered nearly 70 per cent burns. His condition is critical.

Yadagiri, who set himself ablaze close to Café Coffee Day near the NCC gate on the Western side of the Osmania University, rushed towards the policemen present at the gate. Alarmed policemen doused the fire and shifted him to a hospital in an ambulance.

The self-immolation comes in the backdrop of the police foiling the students’ attempts to take out a rally to the assembly.

As the news of self-immolation spread, students gathered again at the NCC gate and hurled stones at the police. DIG Charu Sinha was injured in the stone pelting.

Yadagiri has been shifted to the Gandhi Hospital where his condition is stated to be critical.

He was carrying a bag in which police found his certificates, photographs with several politicians and a suicide note purportedly written by him.

In the handwritten letter, Yadagiri maintained that he was an orphan and had studied in Victoria Memorial Home in Saroornagar till class X. He stated that the Government was unresponsive to the aspirations of the people and that a separate Telangana should be formed immediately.

Stating that he did not see any possibility of getting a job, Yadagiri wrote that he was doing his bit for the cause of a separate Telangana by sacrificing himself.

Traffic curbs today

HYDERABAD: The city police have imposed traffic restrictions with effect from 5 am on Saturday in view of the Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee (JAC) call to lay siege to the Assembly to demand resignations of elected representatives from the region.

Traffic will not be allowed on five flyovers _ Masab Tank, Telugu Talli, Khairatabad, Basheerbagh and Narayanguda _ and RTC and private buses will be diverted on alternative routes. Entry and exit of inter-State lorries will be prohibited.

The other restrictions are as follows: Traffic from the Jubilee Bus Station, Secunderabad and Bowenpally towards the Charminar will be diverted at Paradise and Patny crossroads via SD Road, Sangeet, Rail Nilayam, Habsiguda, Uppal crossroads and Ring Road.

Traffic from Kukatpally and Madhapur towards Dilsukhnagar will be diverted at Visvesvaraiah statue via Raj Bhavan Road, Rajiv Gandhi statue, Greenlands, flyovers at Begumpet, P&T, CTO and YMCA, Habsiguda, Uppal crossroads, Ring Road.

Traffic from Madhapur, Jubilee Hills Check Post, KBR Park towards Charminar will be diverted at Nagarjuna Circle via Taj Krishna, Road No 12, Masab Tank, Mehidipatnam, Ring Road.

Traffic from Mehidipatnam and Masab Tank towards Ayodhya Hotel junction will be diverted at Masab Tank via Road No 12, Taj Krishna.

Traffic from Charminar and Afzalgunj towards Secunderabad will be diverted at Afzalgunj Y-junction via MG bus station, Chaderghat, Nalgonda crossroads, TV Tower, Dilsukhnagar, LB Nagar Ring Road, Uppal crossroads. Traffic from Amberpet towards Madhapur via Abids will be diverted at Kachiguda traffic police station junction via Chaderghat, MGBS, Charminar, Bahadurpura, Ring Road.

Traffic from Osmania University towards RTC crossroads will be diverted at NCC junction via Shivam Road.

Traffic from Ramnagar and Nallakunta towards RTC crossroads will be diverted at VST via Hindi Mahavidyalaya, Shankarmutt.

Traffic from Tarnaka towards Abids and Charminar will be diverted via Uppal crossroads, Ring Road, LB Nagar.

Traffic from Kukatpally towards Abids and Shamshabad will be diverted at Panjagutta crossroads via Rajiv Gandhi statue junction and Nagarjuna Circle.

Traffic from Dilsukhnagar towards Madhapur via Abids will be diverted at Chaderghat towards Charminar, Bahadurpura, Ring Road.

Traffic from Secunderabad railway station and Rathifile bus station towards Charminar will be diverted at Chilkalguda crossroads towards Mettuguda, Habsiguda crossroads, Uppal crossroads, Ring Road. Traffic from Nampally railway station towards Secunderabad will be diverted at Ek Minar crossroads towards Bazharghat, Masab Tank, Road No 12.

Traffic from MGBS towards Secundrabad will be diverted at Gowliguda junction towards Chaderghat, Nimboliadda, Amberpet T-junction.

Traffic from Parsigutta, Padmarao Nagar towards Charminar and Madhapur will be diverted at Musheerabad crossroads towards Chilkalguda crossroads, Habsiguda crossroads, Uppal crossroads, Ring Road.

Traffic from Gachibowli, Tolichowki, towards Abids will be diverted at Ek Minar mosque towards Darusalam Road.

Traffic will not be allowed beyond Afzalgunj, Chaderghat, Kachiguda traffic police station Y-junction (Nimboliadda), Tourist Hotel, Barkatpura, Barkatpura crossroads, VST, Musheerabad crossroads, Tarnaka crossroads, Mettuguda, Chilkalguda crossroads, Ranigunj crossroads, VV statue junction, Masab Tank, Ek Minar mosque.

The following route will be open for inter- district and private buses: Dilsukhnagar, Chaderghat, Nimboliadda, 6 No junction, Amberpet T-junction, Ramanthapur, Uppal crossroads, Habsiguda crossroads, Mettuguda, Sangeet crossroads, YMCA flyover, CTO flyover, P&T flyover, Begumept flyover, Punjagutta flyover, NFCL, Road No 1 & 12, Masab Tank crossroads, Mehdipatnam crossroads, Rethibowli Ring Road, Attapur bridge, Aramgarh crossroads, Mahaboobnagar crossroads, LB Nagar Ring Road, Uppal crossroads.

Jesus with beer pics spark row

New Delhi : The Catholic Church on Friday banned in all its member schools a New Delhi-based publisher for printing pictures of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette in one hand and a beer can in another in a book for primary classes in Meghalaya.

The Skyline Publication in the national capital published the pictures in the cursive handwriting exercise books for students of Class I.

“The CBCI has written to all its member schools across the country to ban this publisher,” said the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) spokesman, Mr Babu Joseph, here.

The Church also asked the government to take strict action against the publisher and ban such objectionable publications from all schools.

Meanwhile, responding to the outrage caused by the book, the Meghalaya police on Friday registered a case against the publisher and seized around 123 books carrying the objectionable picture.

“We have registered a case under Section 295 (A) of the IPC against Skyline Publication for hurting religious sentiments. We have seized around 123 books from the distributor as well as the school where it was supplied,” the DSP, Mr Vivek Syiem, said. — IANS

Aamir Khan withdraws resignation

Actor Aamir Khan on Friday withdrew his resignation from the copyright committee, set up by Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal to bridge differences between film producers and creative personnel over the proposed amendments to the copyright law.

In his communication to Mr. Sibal, Mr. Khan said he would return to the committee in view of the Minister’s intervention and the reiteration of faith in him by other committee members.

Mr. Khan had walked out of the committee on Wednesday after an altercation with lyricist Javed Akhtar.

Later, Mr. Akhtar and six committee members sought Mr. Sibal’s intervention in getting Mr. Khan back on board.

Hyderabad under security blanket to tackle student protest

A heavy security blanket was thrown across the city on Saturday as students began their march to lay siege to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly in support of separate Telangana state.

Over 20,000 police personnel, including para-military and Rapid Action Force (RAF), besides 9,000 city police personnel, were deployed on various roads leading to the Assembly to thwart any attempt of the students to lay siege.

Agitating students affiliated to Telangana Students Joint Action Committee and Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee started their ‘Chalo Assembly’ from Osmania University campus to Assembly demanding resignation of MLAs of Congress and TDP party from the Telangana region in support of their demand.

In the about nine-km long route between Osmania University and the Assembly, a total of 100 check-posts were set up under nine police station limits to keep a watch on the movement of Telangana students rally.

The students began the rally from Osmania University but heavily-guarded police stopped them on Shivam Road near Vidyanagar, following which they sat on the road raising slogans in support of Telangana and against the police.

As per the strategy, a stretch of three km area surrounding the Assembly building was heavily barricaded using barbed wires and even pedestrians were barred from going towards that direction.

Police have already declared the march as illegal and imposed prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC in the city banning any kind of assembly of persons, rallies and processions till February 25.

In addition to heavy deployment of police personnel, the city police have imposed massive traffic restrictions on the main roads leading to the Assembly and also closed flyovers.

With the main roads wearing a deserted look, traffic came to a standstill on lanes and bylanes causing inconvenience to the common man.

Tension prevailed at the Nizam college near the Assembly after police closed its gates and prevented the students from taking out any rally.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner A K Khan told reporters that the traffic restrictions would be eased out by evening.

Rosaiah presents tax-free budget

Notwithstanding a grim financial picture in the face of a troubled political situation, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah on Saturday, presented a tax-free budget for 2010-11 with an outlay of Rs. 1,13,675 crore and a projected expenditure of Rs. 1,13,660 crore.

The budget estimates, presented to the State Assembly, show a fiscal deficit of Rs. 12,983 crore, which will be about Rs. 1,300 crore less than the revised estimates for the 2009-10 fiscal, and a revenue surplus of Rs. 3,548 crore, up from Rs. 2,942 crore.

The grim picture that the government, including the Chief Minister himself, has been projecting for the past few months did not reflect in the budget as revenue receipts showed no significant fall except for a meagre Rs. 558 crore and not Rs. 8,000 crore as feared. As per the revised estimates for 2009-10 fiscal, revenue receipts stood at Rs. 78,406 crore while the projected revenues for 2010-11 are Rs. 90,648 crore.

“The global economic slowdown has impacted the economy of all States in the country, much more than what we initially anticipated. Of late, the GDP growth rate has been showing signs of recovery which would surely be reflected in the growth rates of revenues in near future,” Rosaiah, who presented a record 16th budget and the first as Chief Minister, observed.

Centre: IPL faces no threat in Hyderabad

New Delhi : Dismissing reports of terror threats in Hyderabad, the Union home secretary, Mr G.K. Pillai, declared in an exclusive interview to this newspaper on Friday that it was “safe” to hold IPL matches in the Andhra region.

He added that if needed, the Centre was prepared to provide adequate security for the matches if these were held in Hyderabad. Mr Pillai, speaking openly for the first time on the issue said, “It was not a correct decision to cancel IPL matches in Hyderabad. There was no terrorist threat, but just the Telangana issue.”

The home secretary pointed out that the Joint Action Committee (JAC) which was spearheading the Telangana agitation had “given a categorical assurance that they would not disrupt the event.”

It may be recalled that the IPL organisers had shifted the matches due to the continuing T-agitation. The intelligence and security agencies had also been talking of terror modules active in the southern states. On how safe Hyderabad was as a venue for the matches, the home secretary said, “If the IPL is in Hyderabad, it will be safe. We will provide the security.”

Seven IPL-3 matches had earlier been scheduled to be played in the city. The IPL board’s decision to not allow matches to be held in either Hyderabad or Visakhapatnam, home base of the Deccan Chargers, led to outrage across Andhra Pradesh.

A series of protest letters had been sent to the IPL authorities, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as well as to former BCCI chief and International Cricket Council (ICC) president-elect, Mr Sharad Pawar, on the matter. Mr Pillai said that the IPL board’s decision to pull the matches out of Hyderabad was “hasty.”

On security for other major sporting events in India, including the proposed Hockey World Cup, Mr Pillai said, “All other events are as per schedule.”

The home secretary was, however, evasive when asked about the Centre’s move to initiate the process for a separate state of Telangana

Massive traffic jams in Hyderabad

A traffic police asks a pedestrian to leave the Lakdi-Ka-Pul Road in Hyderabad on Saturday as the security was tightened to prevent the pro-Telangana students from carrying out their threat of laying siege to the State Assembly

The State capital witnessed an unprecedented traffic grid lock in major parts of the city, especially those on the southern and western parts after the police imposed traffic restrictions on a massive scale to prevent the pro-Telangana students from carrying out their threat of laying siege to the State Assembly on Saturday.

Osmania University campus, the nerve centre of agitation for bifurcation of state remained peaceful, as massive contingents of police kept a close watch on a gathering of about 500 students. By 10.30 p.m. the assemblage of students were moving towards the NCC gate of the University, apparently in a bid to take out a rally to the Assembly.

However, police are determined to take them into custody, if the students try to cross the university gate.

Meanwhile, the Government has assured a delegation of the journalists that cases registered against media personnel in Osmania University police station would be withdrawn. Following this assurance from the Chief Minister, K. Rosaiah, journalists called off their boycott of the Budget session. The State budget will be presented at 12.45 p.m. today.

The never-seen-before traffic diversions, though publicised widely led to chaotic traffic conditions, as fuming motorists argued with policemen. A massive traffic jam was reported from Bazarghat, Vijayanagar colony, Nampally, Mehdipatnam localities situated on Western parts of the city. It is bumper to bumper traffic moving sluggishly in Southern parts of the city.

Though the police had cautioned people not to venture out on Saturday in view of expected traffic jams, many could not understand why roads leading to hospitals were blocked. The road leading to Gandhi Hospital, one of the biggest Government hospices in the State was blocked from Chilkalguda cross cross roads leading to wide spread resentment.

Doctors working in the hospital and patients intending to go to Gandhi Hospital were put to inconvenience and the policemen manning the barricades chose not to listen to the pleas of people going to hospitals. At Chapel Road angry motorists began abusing policemen for not allowing an ambulance carrying a patient to move into barricaded area. As people began gathering, a policeman quickly pulled out the barricade to allow the ambulance to move through.

Reports of siren-wailing Ambulances being caught in traffic jams were received from several areas. At Goshamahal cross roads, a woman doctor working in Osmania General Hospital was seen pleading and arguing with policemen to allow her to reach hospital. The policemen told her sternly that she would not be allowed because of orders from ‘higher ups’. The flustered woman doctor, who refused to be identified, almost broke into tears.

Power cuts to be enhanced in A.P.

The AP Transco and the four distribution companies have decided to enhance power cuts at all the mandal headquarters in Andhra Pradesh to four hours from two hours with immediate effect till the onset of the monsoon.

At the same time, the supply curbs in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada and such other cities will continue for one hour as at present and for six hours in villages. The decision has been taken to cope with a severe shortage of availability which is of the order of 38 million units (mu) a day during February, but is expected to touch a high of 49 mu in March when the rabi season reaches its peak, before falling to 45 mu in April and 32 mu in May.

KG basin cooking gas to cost Rs 280/month

Piped cooking gas from the KG basin will be supplied to Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Kakinada by September this year. The price will be Rs 280 per month which is contrary to the earlier claims of the state government that it would cost just Rs 150.

Currently, consumers in the state are paying Rs 304 for a domestic LPG cylinder.

The minister for technical education, Mr M. Venkata Ramana Rao, made a statement to this effect in the Legislative Council on Friday which led to an uproar with some members strongly opposing the high price fixed for piped gas.

Some members alleged that the government was deliberately favouring Reliance Industries at the cost of common people.

The MLC, Dr Nageshwar, said Reliance Industries had claimed that the price would be one-third that of the LPG cylinder.

“Reliance even submitted a proposal to the government that it was ready to supply piped gas for Rs 150. This was announced by the then chief minister, Dr Y.S. Rajashekar Reddy. Now the government says it will be around Rs 280. What difference it is going to make to a common consumer who opts for piped gas when he is already paying Rs 304 for a cylinder,” said Dr Nageshwar.

He demanded that the government should have the final say on fixing the price as the natural resources in the KG basin belong to all citizens of the state.

Mr Ramana Rao said that the price was fixed by the Centre’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board and it is not proper to blame the state government for this.

“We have no control over price fixation. However, we will take up the issue with the Centre,” he said.

He added that about 31,000 piped-gas connections will be given in Hyderabad initially.

“The idea is to cover 2,60,000 houses in five years. In Vijayawada, we plan to give 1,00,000 connections,” he said.

Prakasam workers exit Hyderabad

ONGOLE,: Battina Prakash, a resident of Machavaram village in Kandukuru mandal of Prakasam district, migrated to Hyderabad nine years ago in search of livelihood along with his family and has since been leading an ordinary life working as a mason.

However, of late, it has been a tough task for him to find work due to the Telangana movement that hit the ongoing construction industry in an unprecedented way in the State Capital. As a result, many people from Prakasam district and its sorrounding districts, who are working as daily wage labourers in Hyderabad are going back to their native places unable to surive without work.

The construction industry has been facing problems for the past one year due to recession affecting daily wage workers.

With the agitation for separate Telangana intensfying in the Capital, builde r s a r e n o t showing interest in taking up new projects. As a re s u l t , the workers brought to Hyderabad by builders, are being sent back to their native places.

Nearly one lakh people from Kanigiri, Darsi, Podili, Markapuram and Kandukuru and their surrounding villages are enganged in various construction works in Hyderabad and a majority of them are returing to their villages.

About four lakh people from Prakasam and its neighbouring districts are also working in the construction sector and are facing the same situation.

A labour agent, V N Raja Rao, told the Express that there was no sign of starting the works in the near futre and the contractors were strictly advising the workers not to go to Hyderabad.

With this, unemployement in rising at an alarming rate in villages.

Ravindra targets YSR’s family

Hyderabad/Kadapa: There was pandemonium in the AP Assembly over alleged irregularities in the supply of Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) fertilisers and seeds to Balaji Fertilisers, a company reportedly owned by the Kadapa Mayor, Mr Ravindranath Reddy, who is the brother-in-law of the late Chief Minister Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.

The Opposition parties including the TD, PR, CPI(M) and CPI staged a walkout in protest when their demand for a House Committee to inquire into the irregularities was turned down by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Nadendla Manohar.

The demand for a House committee was first raised by senior Congress MLA, Mr D.L. Ravindra Reddy, causing embarrassment to the government. In all, the House was adjourned twice in a span of two hours over the issue.

Mr Ravindra Reddy, who entered politics in the late 70s, was all along an associate of YSR, but suddenly turned tables against the late CM’s family.

Some MLAs met the Rajya Sabha member, Dr K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, and discussed the issue. The agriculture minister, Mr N. Raghuveera Reddy, met the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, the PCC chief, Mr D. Srinivas and Dr Ramachandra Rao and explained to them there was no truth in the allegations of Dr Ravindra Reddy and showed them the relevant files.

In Kadapa, the mayor, Mr P. Ravindranath Reddy, denied any irregularities in allocation of fertilisers to his factory.

Set right YSR’s wrongs, Oppn Leader urges CM

HYDERABAD: Leader of the Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu today urged Chief Minister K Rosaiah to `correct’ the follies committed by his predecessor the late YS Rajasekhara Reddy.

Participating in the debate on the motion of thanks for Governor’s address in the Assembly today, Naidu said the State was going backward due to `one person’. The administration and economy derailed, and the State suffered irreparable loss during his time, he alleged.

“Rosaiah, with a vast experience of presenting 15 budgets, should use his experience to set right the things.

There has been no direction to the State in the past five years. There is rampant corruption and the government failed to execute projects under Jalayagnam.’’ When Naidu completed his speech, Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy said: “t was not courteous to talk about a person (Rajasekhara Reddy) who died”. Naidu’s speech was frequently interrupted by Anam Vivekananda Reddy but the Speaker told the Congress member not to do so.

Praja Rajyam floor leader K Chiranjeevi complimented the chief minister saying he was holding DRC meetings effectively.

 He wanted Rosaiah to tour the State to understand people’s problems.

Yahoo-Microsoft deal set, taking aim at Google

The deal is part of Microsoft’s strategy to challenge Google’s commanding position amongst Internet search engines

U.S. and European regulators have cleared the long-discussed Internet search partnership between Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., enabling the rivals to form a tag team as they try to mount a more serious challenge to Google Inc.

The government approvals announced on Thursday anointed an alliance that Microsoft and Yahoo proposed nearly seven months ago after years of flirtation and often contentious negotiations.

Microsoft first approached Yahoo about working together in late 2006 and again in 2007. In 2008, Microsoft launched a hostile bid to buy Yahoo in its entirety, only to withdraw the $47.5 billion offer in exasperation.

Microsoft is counting on the 10-year deal with Yahoo to provide more muscle as it tries to counter Google’s domination of the lucrative Internet search market. The companies make money by charging advertisers to pay to have their links appear when people search for certain terms.

While gaining access to Yahoo’s Internet search audience and advertisers is bound to help, it could still prove to be too little, too late.

The U.S. Department of Justice and European Commission had no problems with Microsoft and Yahoo working together largely because Google is so far ahead of them in the lucrative Internet search market.

Microsoft has been making some minor strides in the United States since it overhauled its search engine and renamed it Bing last summer. But the progress has primarily come at Yahoo’s expense.

It’s going to take a while before all the pieces of the complex Microsoft-Yahoo deal will be in place. The companies hope Microsoft’s technology will be ready to start processing search requests that people enter on Yahoo’s U.S. site by the end of this year. But getting everything ready around the rest of the world is expected to take until 2012.

Yahoo figures to make more money from the deal because it allows the company to keep 88 per cent of the revenue from search ads on its website during the first five years, while Microsoft absorbs most of the expenses. Yahoo estimates the partnership eventually could boost its annual operating profit by $500 million. The financial gains aren’t expected to start flowing to Yahoo until next year.

To start, Yahoo will get $150 million from Microsoft to help offset its expenses for the transition to a new technology. The payments will be made in instalments, with the first checks due before April.

Microsoft will also take on about 400 of Yahoo’s 13,900 employees, with the first transfers expected to take place this year.

“Although we are just at the beginning of this process, we have reached an exciting milestone,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said. “I believe that together, Microsoft and Yahoo will promote more choice, better value and greater innovation to our customers as well as to advertisers and publishers.”

Even though Microsoft’s technology will be steering things, Yahoo insists its search results and advertising won’t be identical to what’s served up on Bing. Yahoo can still shape the presentation of the results.

“This breakthrough search alliance means Yahoo can focus even more on our own innovative search experience,” said CEO Carol Bartz.

Metro project to start in Nov.

Ground level works for the much-awaited Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) project will start in November, the municipal administration minister, Mr Anam Ramnarayan Reddy, informed the Assembly on Friday. He was responding to a question from the Congress legislator, Mr D. Sudheer Reddy.

The letter of award for the project will be issued to the new developer in May. The developer will have to complete the project in five years. The cost for the project is estimated to be Rs 12,132 crore, the minister added.

Later, HMR managing director, Mr N.V.S. Reddy, said, the government has received pre-qualification bids from eight consortia to implement the project through DBFOT (design, build, finance, operate and transfer) mode.

Reliance ADAG, GMR, L&T, Lanco–OHL (Spain), Essar Leighton (Australia)-Gayatri-VNR, GVK-Samsung (South Korea), Transstroy–OJSC (Russia)-CR 18 (China)-BHML and Soma-Strabag (Austria) are the companies in fray for the project. The name of the new concessionaire would be finalised by April-end.

Fortress Limited would be the consulting agency for the bidding process, whereas the technical, financial and legal aspects would be examined by Barsyl, Delo-itte, and Luthra & Luthra

Declaration of CAT-2009 results deferred to February end

The results of Common Admission Test (CAT)-2009 have been deferred to February end, an official statement from convenor of CAT-2009 at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) said here on Saturday.

Earlier, as per the convenor of CAT, the results of admission test were supposed to be declared by this week.

However, the convenor of CAT has not specified any reasons for delay, causing large scale inconvenience to the B-School aspirants across the country.

The students are already late in seeking admissions due to delayed conduction of CAT-2009, which was marred by technical glitches in first phase, and subsequently had to be re-conducted for candidates who faced problems in exam.

Out of the 2.41 lakh students who applied for CAT-2009 over 2.15 lakh students appeared for the admission test that concluded on January 31 last.

Pan-India besides eight IIMs, there are over 120 non-member IIM, management schools registered with CAT, which use the CAT score as criteria for granting admissions

OU VC’s car stoned: Tension escalates on OU campus

Students hurled stones on the car of the Osmania University Vice-Chancellor Prof. T. Tirupathi Rao, damaging the windscreen, even as they raced towards the NCC gate on Western side.
A large group of students were jostling with policemen at the gate disregarding the repeated announcements of policemen to disperse peacefully.
Similar attempts to break through the police cordons and march to the Assembly were foiled at City College in old city, Nizam College near Basheerbagh.
PTI Adds
Intensifying their agitation for a separate Telangana state, hundreds of students defied a police warning and took out a march to the state Assembly even as some activists pelted stones at the car of Osmania University Vice Chancellor here today.
Ahead of the budget presentation in the Assembly, students took out a rally from the OU campus to lay siege to the Assembly demanding resignations of all elected representatives of the region to press for a separate Telangana state.
The call was given by the Telangana Students Joint Action Committee and Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee.
However, the police, which declared the rally as “illegal”, prevented the students on Shivam Road near Vidyanagar after which they indulged in heated arguments with the police personnel.
In another incident, pro-Telangana activists pelted stones at OU Vice—Chancellor T Tirupati Rao’s car in the campus damaging its window panes. Rao was not in the vehicle.
The OU campus has been the nerve centre of the agitation for a separate Telangana state and has witnessed a series of violent incidents with students and police clashing against each other.
Over 20,000 police forces including several battalions of Rapid Action Force and Andhra Pradesh Special Police are keeping a close vigil on the roads leading to the Assembly in view of the students’ rally.

Pro-Telangana protests intensify, Hyderabad under siege

Pro-Telangana students have started protest rallies outside the Osmania University campus on Saturday, even as heavy security measures have been imposed across Andhra Pradesh to prevent any disruption. Road and rail traffic has been badly affected.

Hyderabad Police Commissioner A K Khan has apologized to people for the security restrictions.

Following a bomb scare, at least nine trains were stopped near Vikrabad and Warangal, and the railway protection force is checking the tracks.

According to reports, pro-Telangana activists broke barricades outside the state Assembly and tried to enter the House and disrupt the ongoing budget session.

The students are demanding resignation of MLAs from Telangana region, and they hope the resignations will pressure the Central government into initiating process for formation of a separate state.

“Please try to understand why we are participating in such a struggle. We have no jobs. Our parents are in debt. There is no money at home. It is a matter of life and death for us,” says Satish, one of the students.

Over 15000 policemen and paramilitary personnel are on duty in Hyderabad alone as in a pre-cautionary measure to hold up protests.

Commissioner A K Khan said: “It is a surcharged atmosphere and if they do anything illegal, we will have to take action and book cases. That could spoil their future as well.”

Ten TRS MLAs have resigned, the Congress MLAs have been reined in and the TDP is sitting on the fence.

ANI

Yet another Hyd heritage in danger

HYDERABAD: Illegal constructions have come to haunt Hyderabad’s heritage cover yet again and this time it is a 400-year-old mosque, popularly known as Jamia Masjid. Heritage conservationists are up in arms with the mosque committee building a concrete three-storied building adjacent to this masjid.

Located in a dusty bylane in the Gudimalkapur area of Karwan, Jamia Masjid was constructed during the Qutub Shahi period and is near to another heritagestructure— the 200-year-old Jham Singh Balaji Venkateshwara Swamy temple located just across the road. Though the mosque is among the oldest monuments of the city, little has been done to preserve this piece of history.

Activists and locals of the area claim that developers of the building have no permission to carry out the construction, which also violates the Heritage Regulation Act. As per the act, no construction work can be carried out in close proximity of a heritage area.

When TOI visited the site on Friday, construction work next to the mosque was on in full swing. The ground and first floor of the building, that faces the road adjacent to the mosque, seemed near complete and pillars have been erected to build the second floor. From a distance, the mosque was barely visible because of the under-construction complex, which also seemed to have ruined the charm of the monument.

The already dilapidated surroundings of the masjid, that has Mughal architecture features like the ‘chajja’, too seemed to be bearing the brunt of the construction activity. Some of these small platforms had either broken down, or seemed to be on the verge of falling apart.

While a mosque in-charge supervising the work there claimed that the masjid management was building a ‘dharamsala’, construction workers and locals said that the structure was coming up for commercial purpose. “We have heard that some shops would be set up on the ground floor,” said one worker.

Though the in-charge vehemently denied this claim, he did admit that no permission had been sought for the construction work. “This land belongs to the mosque and those looking after it can do anything they wish with it. Temples and masjids do not need any permission for such work,” the in-charge said refusing to divulge his identity.

Meanwhile, heritage conservationists rued that the masjid area has faced a slew of illegal construction activities over the last few years. Not only have ancient structures around the mosque been tampered with, some portions of the temple too have been damaged. “There are two ‘kos minars’ (mediaeval milestones where one kos denotes 1.8 km approx) near the mosque which are of great heritage value as they were originally the entrance to the Golconda Fort. The area around the minar has now been encroached upon by slum-dwellers and nothing has been done about it,” said Sajjad Shahid, an expert on heritage conservation.

Sharing Shahid’s concerns, Veda Kumar of Forum for a Better Hyderabad said, “The authorities seemed to have turned a blind eye to the condition of these monuments. At this rate, Hyderabad will soon lose most of its precious past.”

Bomb threat a hoax, train services to Hyderabad resume

Hyderabad: Reports of bombs being planted on railway tracks near Hyderabad on Saturday morning forced authorities to launch a massive search operation.

But after almost three hours of intensive search by the security forces the bomb threat was declared a hoax.

Authorities stopped 12 trains at various stations in Hyderabad and railway tracks at all entry points to the city are being examined. Some trains have been stopped from entering the city.

The situation in and around Hyderabad has been tense for the past couple of months over the Telangana agitation.

The violent agitation for a separate state of Telangana by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh has led to massive deployment of security personnel in the region, particularly Hyderabad.

Police officials say more than 20,000 security personnel have been deployed around Hyderabad to maintain law and order after Osmania University students and Telangana Joint Action Committee decided to take out a rally demanding the creation of Telangana.

The protestors have also threatened to lay siege to the state Assembly to protest the terms of reference of the Srikrishna Committee.