Hyderabad: Osmania University is organising “Entrepreneurship Development Programme” for the unemployed graduates who passed degree, post-graduates in diploma, engineering, medicine, pharmacy, management, etc. from March 29 at the Entrepreneurship Development Cell in the campus.
The duration of course is four weeks. Those interested can call telephone nos. 2707 2427 and 99857 94338.
The ongoing semester examination of post graduate and professional courses of Osmania University, which were scheduled to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday, have been postponed due to tension following the death of an engineering student M Sai Kumar, who allegedly committed suicide for the cause of Telangana.
According to OU authorities, the exams of MA, MSc, MCom, MBA, MCA, LLB, MEd, MPEd, BE scheduled for yesterday and today were postponed in view of the tense situation that prevailed following the death of M Sai Kumar.
“The dates for these exams will be announced later. However, all the remaining exams would be conducted as per schedule from tomorrow,” an OU official said.
The semester exams of PG and professional courses of OU, which had been postponed on several occasions in the past following the Telangana agitation, had finally began on March 3.
A few minutes before he ended his life, chemical engineering student Saikumar sent an SMS to his relative Naresh Yadav conveying his decision to end his life for the cause of Telangana.
Naresh Yadav, a civil engineering student of Osmania University, was in the class and his mobile was in silent mode when the SMS landed.
By the time he saw the message, it was too late.
Saikumar’s suicide note also reportedly contained the same message.
“Naresh Yadav was close to Saikumar. Last night, Saikumar slept in Yadav’s room after they returned from an outing,’’ Saikumar’s grief-stricken classmates, sitting in a corner of the Gandhi hospital, told Expresso. “Saikumar was self-dependent and used to give tuitions at the HMT Colony,” recalled his hostel mate K Hareesh.
Saikumar was also popular among his seniors and they too are yet to come to terms that their junior is no more.
“I saw him just a few minutes before his death. I was attending a lecture, and suddenly there was commotion in the corridor outside our class. I could not immediately make out what was happening. Later, on enquiring with a student, we came to know that Saikumar committed suicide. I can still recall his pleasant smile,” G Narasimha, a B.Tech (Chemical) final year student, said.
Immediately after the suicide, some students went to meet Vice- Chancellor T Tirupathi Rao. As he was not available, the agitating students approached Registrar YC Venudhar and picked up a heated argument.
Meanwhile, Saikumar’s father, M Lingayya, and other family members started off for Hyderabad from Nalgonda district soon after hearing the shocking news. It is, however, learnt that they were stopped by the police at Narketpally.
Sources said they were `counselled’ by the police to take the body directly to Kodada and not give in to the pressure of students to shift the body to OU.
HYDERABAD: Tension escalated at the Osmania University and surrounding areas on Tuesday, after an engineering student hanged himself in his hostel room demanding the formation of a separate Telangana State.
Police said Saikumar Meegada, a second year student of Chemical Engineering and a boarder of the Technology hostel was found hanging by his room mate Amarendar. Saikumar was rushed to Gandhi Hospital, but was declared dead.
As news of the suicide spread, hundreds of students rushed to Gandhi Hospital and were arguing with the police insisting that they would take his body to the Osmania Campus.
Anticipating outbreak of violence, additional forces were being rushed to Osmania University campus and Gandhi Hospital.
Saikumar, who hails from Kapugal village in the neighbouring Nalgonda district is the son of a farmer and earns his pocket money by giving home tuitions. On Tuesday, he told his roommate that he would go home for Ugadi.
Amarendar, the room mate who returned to the hostel in the morning, found that the room was locked from inside and broke it open to find him hanging. Other hostellers who lowered him found him breathing and rushed him to Hospital.
In a suicide note purportedly written by him, Saikumar maintained that he was sacrificing his life for the cause of four crore people of Telangana. He maintained that the youth should take lead for the cause of Telangana rather than leaving it in the hands of politicians.
Situation on the University campus had returned to near normal for the last one week, with the students taking the examinations.
Tension escalated at the Osmania University and surrounding areas on Tuesday, after an engineering student hanged himself in his hostel room demanding the formation of a separate Telangana State.
A student of College of Technology on Osmania University campus ended his life on Tuesday rekindling pro-Telangana passions on the campus on Tuesday. Tension gripped the Gandhi hospital where autopsy was to be held, when the police caned students who tried to take out the body in a procession to the university.
Twenty-year-old Meegada Sai Kumar, in a suicide note purportedly written by him, stated that he was sacrificing his life for Telangana. “Without reposing the trust in politicians, the youth should achieve Telangana. Take out my funeral procession up to the Assembly,” the note said.
A second year student of Chemical Engineering branch, Kumar is from Kapugal village in Kodad mandal of Nalgonda. He told his roommate in the morning that he would not attend classes since he was going home for the Ugadi festival.
Doors of his room no. 108 were bolted from inside when his classmates returned. “We forcibly opened the doors and saw him hanging from the ceiling,” Amarender, his roommate, told reporters.
They rushed him to the Gandhi hospital believing he was still alive. But the doctors pronounced him dead on arrival. As the news spread, emotionally charged students began to assemble in large numbers at his hostel and Arts College. Anticipating trouble, police rushed additional forces, including contingents of para-military units, to the campus sealing the Tarnaka and NCC gate entry points.
They did not allow students to come out of the campus, but the latter managed to reach the hospital through other routes. Tension escalated as students did not allow shifting of the body to the morgue for post-mortem.
The students argued that they should be allowed to take the body to Gun Park in Secunderabad and then to the campus. Even as police officers were holding discussions with some student leaders, a group attempted to take the body to the main road. Police had to use force to disperse them.
Tension escalated at the Osmania University and surrounding areas on Tuesday, after an engineering student hanged himself in his hostel room demanding the formation of a separate Telangana State.
Police said Saikumar Meegada, a second year student of Chemical Engineering and a boarder of the Technology hostel was found hanging by his room mate Amarendar. Saikumar was rushed to Gandhi Hospital, but was declared dead.
As news of the suicide spread, hundreds of students rushed to Gandhi Hospital and were arguing with the police insisting that they would take his body to the Osmania Campus.
Anticipating outbreak of violence, additional forces were being rushed to Osmania University campus and Gandhi Hospital.
Saikumar, who hails from Kapugal village in the neighbouring Nalgonda district is the son of a farmer and earns his pocket money by giving home tuitions. On Tuesday, he told his roommate that he would go home for Ugadi.
Amarendar, the room mate who returned to the hostel in the morning, found that the room was locked from inside and broke it open to find him hanging. Other hostellers who lowered him found him breathing and rushed him to Hospital.
In a suicide note purportedly written by him, Saikumar maintained that he was sacrificing his life for the cause of four crore people of Telangana. He maintained that the youth should take lead for the cause of Telangana rather than leaving it in the hands of politicians.
Situation on the University campus had returned to near normal for the last one week, with the students taking the examinations.
Hyderabad: The Supreme Court today directed the Andhra Pradesh government to furnish “proof” of the reported intelligence inputs to establish that Maoists have infiltrated the Osmania University, the hotbed of the ongoing Telangana agitation.
“Where is the input of the infiltration inside the campus? What is the proof available? We would like to have it,” a bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and Asok Kumar Ganguly observed while passing the direction.
The apex court posted the matter for further hearing for February 25 after senior counsel Harish Salve said inputs would be furnished before the bench either tomorrow or the day after.
The apex court passed the direction after Salve repeated the state’s arguments that deployment of paramilitary forces was indispensable as the movement is instigated by the Maoists.
The bench also extended till February 25 the stay imposed on the A.P. High Court order directing withdrawal of the paramilitary forces from the university campus.
A division bench of the High Court had on February 16 upheld the directions of a single judge to move out special forces from Osmania University campus.
The state government had assailed the February 16 order, saying the High Court cannot order the removal of paramilitary forces from the campus which is a hotbed of the agitation for a separate Telangana state.
The bench had said the single judge was right in his analysis that the Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed in the university campus without any study of the situation.
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.
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.
Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday witnessed repeated adjournments following uproar over various issues including the lathicharge on students at Osmania University.
The first adjournment came within two minutes after the House met for the day when Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi raised the attack on Muslims in Patangal village in Nizamabad district by pro-Telanagana supporters on Tuesday.
When the House reassembled after a 30-minute adjournment, TDP members created noisy scenes condemning the lathicharge. Speaker N Kiran Kumar Reddy then adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
When the House assembled for the third time, Owaisi raised the Nizamabad incident and demanded action against the guilty and protection for Muslims not only in Telangana but
also in other regions of the state.
“We are neither against Telangana nor unified Andhra Pradesh. We want peace,” Owaisi said.
Chief Minister K Rosaiah then assured him that all steps would be taken to ensure safety of Muslims.
After order was restored, the listed questions were taken up, but the peace was short-lived as members from Left parties protested the appointment of doctors in primary health centres leading to the adjournment of the House for the third time.
Warangal (AP), February 15: Normal life was paralysed here today as students, women and people from various walks of life held sit-ins, road blockades and several other forms of protest during a bandh against the lathi-charge on students at the Osmania University in Hyderabad.
Students of the Kakatiya University here held a sit-in in front of the house of Lok Sabha member S Rajaiah demanding that he quit immediately to mount pressure on the Centre on Telangana statehood issue.
The shutdown was called by the all-party Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) and the students.
A large group of lawyers staged a sit-in at the residence of Major Irrigation Minister P Laxmaiah demanding his immediate resignation. The protesters threw eggs and tomatoes at the house.
The protesters condemned the alleged high-handedness of police in the incident at Osmania University yesterday.
A riot- geared policeman move into fire a gas shell as a woman scurries at Manikeshwari Nagar to quell stone throwing students of Osmania University , who resorted to protests and retreated into the area , in Hyderabad on Sunday
Over 20 people, including security personnel and mediamen, were injured when students agitating over creation of a separate Telangana hurled stones at them on the Osmania University campus here, prompting police to use force to quell them.
Security personnel used batons, fired rubber bullets and tear gas shells when students defied prohibitory orders and tried to take out a procession on Sunday evening in support of legislators who resigned to protest the terms of reference of the Sri Krishna Committee to go into the issue of separate statehood, Commissioner of Police A. K. Khan said.
Prohibitory orders were in force on the campus as the University is the hotbed of the ongoing Telengana agitation in the state.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Security) P. S. R. Anjaneyulu, who was supervising the security on the OU campus, was injured when the mob pelted stones at police. Ten other policemen also sustained injuries, police sources said.
Andhra Pradesh government last night ordered an inquiry into the baton-charge on students at the University.
“The incident at OU is painful. I spoke with the DGP and Police Commissioner on the conditions that led to this incident and why cane-charge had to be done. An inquiry has been ordered into the incident immediately,” state Home Minister P. Sabita Reddy said.
Action will be taken if any officer is found to have committed any excess, she said.
“The Centre has constituted a committee. That committee will definitely take into consideration the feelings of the region. Students should also be calm,” she said.
Hyderabad, February 14: Violence over the Telangana issue rocked Osmania University Sunday night and 20 students were injured when police fired rubber bullets and used batons to disperse them.
Six mediapersons also sustained injuries and their cameras and other equipments were damaged in the police action on the campus, eye-witnesses said.
The trouble began when students took out a rally hailing the resignations of 15 legislators and demanding that others quit too. As the protestors tried to march towards Tarnaka area, police and paramilitary forces stopped them, leading to heated arguments.
A police officer claimed that students started pelting stones, forcing them to baton-charge. Eye-witnessed said police personnel beat up several students and mediapersons, who sustained bleeding injuries.
Tension gripped the sprawling campus, the nerve centre of ongoing agitation over the demand for statehood to Telangana as police action evoked widespread condemnation by students organisations and pro-Telangana parties.
The All-party Joint Action Committee (JAC) has condemned the police action on the campus.
The university has been witnessing clashes between students and police since the agitation began in November last year.
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Osmania University students on Friday called for Telangana shutdown on Saturday to protest the terms of reference of the Srikrishna panel, saying these were not favourable for formation of Telangana state.
Demanding that the centre immediately dissolve the panel, JAC said that only people’s struggle could achieve a separate state of Telangana.
The JAC, which is spearheading the students’ movement for Telangana state, also asked people to launch a non-cooperation movement.
JAC leaders said they would lay siege to all government offices in the region. The JAC of Kakatiya University in Warangal has declared support to the shutdown call.
Meanwhile, anticipating protests, police have deployed a large number of security forces at Osmania University, the nerve centre of the Telangana agitation.
Students pelting stones after they were lathi-charged by police in Hyderabad on Wednesday
The Hindu Police fire tear gas shells on Wednesday to disperse students who planned to take out a rally with the body of a student, K. Venugopal Reddy, who allegedly committed suicide by setting himself ablaze in Hyderabad on Tuesday demanding separate Statehood for Telangana. Photo: G. Krishnaswamy
Violence broke out at the Osmania University campus here today when police stopped students from staging a march with the the body of a youth who committed suicide by immolating himself apparently due to delay in formation of a separate Telangana state.
Police said at least 30 students and 15 policemen, including Kachiguda Assistant Commissioner of Police, K. Ramchander, were injured as the premises turned into a battlefield with students throwing stones and torching police vehicles.
Police burst teargas shells and fired rubber bullets and used water cannons to disperse them. Some mediapersons were also hurt during the clashes.
The violence broke out over shifting the body of K. Venugopal Reddy, a 23-year-old final-year MCA student who set himself ablaze yesterday at the university, which has been a focal point for the youth demanding Telangana.
The students planned to take out Venugopal’s body in a procession towards Gun Park near Andhra Pradesh state assembly from the Arts College premises where the body was kept since yesterday. Hundreds of students gathered at the Arts College premises to pay their respects to Venugopal.
But police stopped them from taking out any procession saying it may aggrevate the situation in view of the bandh being already observed in the city in support of Telangana.
Normality affected in Telangan region
Normal life was hit across Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh today due to a bandh called by the students and Joint Action Committee (JAC) demanding immediate steps for formation of separate Telangana.
The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) suspended its services in the city fearing attacks by bandh supporters.
Petrol pumps remained closed at various places in the city since late last night. Schools, colleges, shops and other business establishments were shut in Hyderabad and Telangana districts like Medak, Nizamabad, Nalgonda and Karimnagar.
The bandh was called by students of Osmania University the nerve center of the Telangana agitation following the alleged suicide by a student in support of separate statehood.
The all-party JAC formed to spearhead the agitation for separate Telangana supported the bandh in order to mount pressure on public representatives in Telangana region to quit their posts in protest against the Centre’s stand on the issue.
Meanwhile, students of Osmania University have kept the body of Venugopal Reddy, who allegedly committed suicide on the Telangana issue, in the varsity campus, and held a meeting hailing his “sacrifices” for the cause.
They are demanding that public representatives come to the varsity and pledge to resign from their posts to put pressure on the Centre to announce a time—frame for the formation of Telangana
IANS reports
Normal life in Hyderabad and nine other districts of the Telangana region came to a halt as a 48-hour shutdown called by the JAC of students began on Wednesday to protest the delay in the formation of a separate state out of Andhra Pradesh. Since Monday, two students have killed themselves over the issue.
All political parties have supported the shutdown. The JAC called for a strike after two students, depressed over the delay in carving out a separate Telangana state, allegedly committed suicide.
K. Venugopal Reddy, a final year student of MCA, set himself ablaze at Osmania University here late Monday. Suvarnamma, a first year BSc student in Mahabubnagar district, set herself ablaze late Tuesday.
Tension prevailed at Osmania University campus for the second consecutive day as students continued their protest with the body of Reddy. The JAC leaders, who sat in front of the Arts College building with the body through Tuesday night, said they would not allow it to be moved unless all MPs and state legislators from the region resign in support of the Telangana statehood demand.
In an attempt to shift the body, police brought additional forces to the campus Wednesday morning.
The self-immolations triggered angry protests by students across Telangana. The students’ JAC called for a two-day shutdown Wednesday and Thursday.
The politicians’ JAC, which comprises all parties including the ruling Congress, has supported the shutdown for Wednesday.
The JAC also announced that all elected representatives would submit their resignations from Wednesday and those who have already done so would press for their acceptance.
Five legislators of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) and one of Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) began a sit-in at the house of assembly speaker Kirankumar Reddy Tuesday night, urging him to immediately accept their resignations. The speaker, however, sought two to three days to take a decision.
With the legislators continuing their protest, the police took them into custody. They were later released.
All 39 legislators of main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) have also decided to press the Speaker to accept their resignations.
Osmania University campus turned into a virtual battle field with agitated students clashing with police, who prevented them from taking the body of Venugopal Reddy in a procession to the Gun Park near State Assembly on Wednesday morning.
Coming under intense stone attacks from the students, who scattered all over the sprawling campus, police lobbed nearly two dozen tear gas shells and repeated lathicharges.
Tension was building up right from the morning with the students agitating for a separate Telangana state planning to take the body of Venugopal Reddy in a procession. Reddy had immolated himself near Tagore auditorium on the campus and his charred body was found by morning walkers on Tuesday morning.
Peaceful
Meanwhile, situation is reported to be peaceful in ten Telangana districts barring a few incidents of stone pelting on buses and private establishments. The ten Telangana districts are observing a bandh today in protest against the delay in forming a Telangana State.
“Situation is very volatile. Students are gathering in large numbers. The inmates of different hostels are filing out to join others on roads” one of the lecturers of the university told The Hindu over phone.
Though the State capital is totally shut down in view of the bandh call given by the Telangana JAC after the death of Venugopal Reddy, police apprehend that allowing a large procession of students upto the State Assembly could lead to violence. As the students began their march from the arts college with the body of Reddy kept in an ambulance, police moved in and tried to stop the procession near Ladies’ hostel.
Stones hurled
The infuriated students began hurling stones at the police leading to injuries to several policemen and officers. Two police vehicles were totally damaged by the students. Police tried to chase away the students using force, but the students ran into the open place around Ladies’ hostel and began regrouping minutes later only to intensify the stone-hurling on police.
Even as additional forces were being rushed to campus, police were lobbing tear gas shells but to little effect.
All the entry and exit points of the Osmania University campus have been sealed and police were diverting traffic via other routes.
| Visit crucial in wake of US advisory against visiting State |
HYDERABAD: Dispelling the notion that the Osmania University campus is disturbed owing to the ongoing pro-Telangana agitation, a team of academicians from the Kansas State University of the United States, arrived on the campus on Monday to explore the possibilities of establishing a long-term collaboration for student and faculty exchange programmes.
The visit of the US academicians assumes importance in the backdrop of the travel advisory issued by the United States to its citizens advising them against visiting Andhra Pradesh in view of the agitations for and against bifurcation of the State. The visiting academicians will be on the University campus for the next three days holding discussions with heads of various departments. The team has come to the University on the initiative taken up by the Osmania University Centre for International Programmes (OUCIP).
Interactions
The university Vice-Chancellor T. Tirupathi Rao said such visits would help the university in many ways. “The Kansas University team is here to look for long-term collaborations with many departments. Prof. Rao expressed happiness over their arrival pointing out that “they have confidence in us and we have confidence in the students”. He said the team would interact with faculty of various departments including engineering, management, political science to explore possibilities of starting joint degrees, students and faculty exchange programmes, research collaborations etc.
The visiting team did not appear to be concerned over the ongoing agitation on the university and took up preliminary discussions with the professors of the Osmania University on Monday. Asked whether the issue of the agitation for separate Telangana State cropped up during the preliminary discussions, one of the visiting team members Prof. Barry Michie said it did not. “We left Kansas city when the temperature was minus 15 degrees centigrade. Our arrival, perhaps, had cooled down the temperatures here also,” he joked. The first-time visitors to Hyderabad had already held one round of discussions with the Osmania University faculty. “It’s certainly a beginning,” Prof. Michie said.
Welcome development
Prof. P. Laxminarayana, vice-principal of College of Technology said the visit of the Kansas academicians was a ‘most welcome development’. Kumaraswamy and B. Suman, members of the Telangana Students Joint Action Committee (TSJAC) spearheading the separate Telangana state agitation, too welcomed the visiting academicians pointing out that Osmania University students would benefit from such association with foreign universities.
The programme coordinator for OUCIP, Y.L. Srinivas pointed out that visit by the foreign academicians would go a long way in restoring the academic atmosphere on the university campus. Their visit at this juncture proved that academic atmosphere on the University campus was getting restored.
Thousands of students swarmed the Osmania University, despite severe restrictions by the police and paramilitary forces all over the region, to participate in the Telangana Vidyarthi Garjana on Sunday.
The students occupied every inch of space available in the OU campus and raised Jai Telangana slogans. It was a sea of humanity everywhere in the campus. Though there were no political party representatives and no organisational mechanisms, the JAC student leaders made arrangements for themselves.
The campus reverberated with the slogans of “Jai Telangana” as the JAC went all out to make the event a grand success. Before the meeting began, dozens of folk singers performed on the stage set against the backdrop of the Arts College building. There were loud cheers as the balladeers through their songs in the traditional Telangana style underlined the need for Telangana state and highlighted the injustice meted out to the region by successive rulers from Andhra.
However, the lack of organised arrangements was clearly evident, as the leaders started speaking one after the other, without any coordination. Some leaders called Leftist cultural troupes, others started speaking. As a result, one could hear neither speeches nor songs properly. However, with the intervention of experienced leaders, discipline was restored to some extent!
Telengana region–Hyderabad and nine other districts–remained tense on Wednesday night with fresh protests erupting near Osmania University as Pro-Telangana agitators pelted stones on buses and demonstrations broke out in different towns.
Authorities rushed additional police reinforcements and braced for the 48-hour bandh called by the TRS angered over the Centre’s latest statement on the Telangana statehood issue calling it an act of betrayal. TRS is spearheading the campaign for a separate state from Andhra Pradesh.
The protesters threw stones at RTC and private buses plying near Osmania University campus and Tarnaka area damaging its windowpanes, though police personnel immediately rushed to the area and used mild force to disperse the agitating groups.
Hundreds of students raising ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans took to streets and resorted to road-blockades near Osmania University, Tarnaka-cross roads and Tarnaka fly over and on way towards Uppal.
Anticipating more trouble security was beefed up at important locations in the city with deployment of additional security forces, a senior police officer said.
“Protesters pelted stones on some buses near Tarnaka and Osmania University here. Security has been enhanced at the Osmania University campus and other locations and additional forces have been deployed in view of the protests,” Hyderabad City Police Commissioner B Prasada Rao siad.
Alleging that the Centre with its latest statement “betrayed” on its previous announcement on initiating process for formation of Telangana, pro-Telangana supporters resorted to demonstrations and burning effigies at Warangal, Karimnagar, Medak, Nizamabad, Adilabad and Nalgonda districts of Telangana region.
According to a report from Nizamabad district, students held dharnas and burnt effigies of UPA leaders.
Huge contingents of police entered Osmania University, where students had been organizing relay hunger strikes for past one week seeking separate Telangana State, on Monday morning. The did not spread into the campus following orders from the State Human Rights Commission, even as thousands of students from other educational institutions of the city came to university pledging support to the agitation during these days.
The situation was tense as armed policemen with riot gear, including contingents of Rapid Action Force, were deployed in the campus. Student leaders alleged that rushing the forces into the University grounds was part of the Governments plot to suppress the peaceful agitation undemocratically.
Police teams were sent to each and every hostel on the campus and started insisting that the students show their identity cards when they enter or leave. Since some of the boarders don’t carry cards on their person, sudden checks by police were seen as in inconvenience by many, Rudra Reddy, a student of New Research Scholars Hostel, said.
Meanwhile, miscreants set on fire two buses of St. Andrews school behind VST factory coming under Chikkadpally police station area around 8.15 a.m. on the second day of the two-day bandh call given by the TRS supporting its fasting president, K. Chandrashekhar Rao. No other violent incident was reported from any part of the city.
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