OU remains tense as students, police clash

For the second day in succession, Osmania University remained tense with protesting students and police clashing with each other. Students pelted stones and set afire a police jeep on the campus.

They raised slogans demanding that the government introduce a Bill in Parliament favouring a separate Telangana. They also set afire copies of the Srikrishna Committee report at Osmania University, the epicentre of the movement for a separate Telangana.

Bulk SMS had been doing the rounds that police had fired 300 rounds to bring the crowd under control and more than 70 students were injured. Media was not allowed inside the campus.

Later, state police chief K Aravinda Rao speaking to the media said the police did not use bullets. Instead, they used pellets and non-lethal weapons, which would not go beyond an inch or so into the body. Paramilitary forces have been deployed only at one or two sensitive places within the campus. The source of the bulk SMS was not known yet, he said.

The police chief said 24 personnel, including an additional DCP, were injured in the stone pelting incident on the campus. “Some tension is certainly prevailing on the Osmania University campus. But our effort is to ensure that it does not escalate,” he added.

Six cases have been registered in Hyderabad city in connection with burning of three RTC buses yesterday and stone pelting incidents. In all, 12 persons have been arrested in Hyderabad and other parts of the state for sporadic violence that broke out after the report was made public.

Meanwhile, the bandh call given by the OU joint action committee today evoked a lukewarm response. Educational institutions were closed in the city and commercial establishments were partly shut down. The frequency of RTC buses increased gradually in the evening.

Kakatiya University students too staged protests and rasta rokos across the district. Government employees, advocates and others participated in the protest.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi floor leader Etala Rajender and Telangana Praja Front founder and balladeer Gaddar demanded that the government withdraw the police forces from Osmania University and Kakatiya University in Warangal.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) also staged a dharna before Raj Bhavan and raised slogans against Governor ESL Narasimhan. They were demanding withdrawal of paramilitary forces from Osmania and Kakatiya universities.

TDP legislator N Janardhan Reddy said the Srikrishna Committee did not heed the representations given by the party on lack of development in the region. He alleged the governor was interfering in the political matters of the state and that he should be recalled.