Mixed response to Telangana strike

Pro-Telangana students on Monday clashed with police which used teargas shell to quell the protesters at Osmania University (OU) campus in Hyderabad even as the shutdown called by different groups favouring separate statehood had little impact in the state capital and Telangana districts. A group of activists under the banner of Telangana students and OU-Joint Action Committee (JAC) held protests in front of the OU Police Station located on the varsity campus and later pelted stones on the police station and cops, a senior police officer said. Police retaliated by firing teargas shells to disperse the protesting students, he said. Telangana student unions including Osmania University Students Joint Action Committee gave a shutdown call on Monday, protesting the alleged high-handedness of police during the “Telangana March” in support of the separate statehood demand on Sunday. The shutdown evoked a very little response in Hyderabad as business establishments and offices functioned normally, though some schools and colleges run by private educational institutions remained closed. However, no holiday was declared for state-run educational institutions, officials said. Public buses were plying as usual while private vehicles also moved normally. “Some schools voluntarily closed and so far there was no reports of forcible closure of shops. The bandh so far has evoked little impact in Hyderabad region,” another senior police officer said. OU-JAC leaders threatened to lay-siege to residences of Telangana ministers here, if they did not quit their posts in support of separate Telangana. Reports from Karimnagar, Medak, Mahabubnagar and Warangal districts said the shutdown evoked partial response with educational institutions remaining closed even as statehood supporters held demonstrations at various places. South Central Railway cancelled all MMTS (local train) services for Monday in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad in view of damage to signalling equipment at Hussain Sagar junction cabin on Secunderabad division, during the “Telangana March” violence on Sunday. Telangana supporters, on their way to Necklace Road at Hussain Sagar Lake, the venue of the March, clashed with security personnel. Violence was reported at Osmania University campus, Khairatabad and the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat area. When they were stopped from passing down the secretariat road and through some other areas where prohibitory orders were in place, the protesters pelted stones and tried to remove the barricades, which prompted the security personnel to lob tear gas shells, police said. The JAC late on Sunday night has called off the Telangana march. Hundreds of protesters dispersed peacefully at midnight after JAC convenor M. Kodandaram announced that they were calling off the march. Though the police permission for the march ended 7 pm on Sunday, the protesters refused to leave the place. Earlier, the JAC leaders had declared that they would not leave the Necklace Road on the banks of Hussain Sagar lake unless the central government announces a roadmap for the formation of separate Telangana state. The university campus and some other parts of Hyderabad were on Sunday rocked by clashes between Telangana protestors and the police. Hyderabad police Commissioner Anurag Sharma said 25 policemen were injured in the stonepelting by the protesters, who also damaged 15 vehicles. Kodandaram said it would organise a fast on Tuesday here and also launch a fast-unto-death agitation soon. From gulftoday