5 cops hurt in stone-throwing by group against new district

Five police personnel,including an Inspector, were injured Monday in stone pelting by a crowd of protesters, when they tried to clear the way for an ambulance which got stuck due to the agitation.

The crowd was opposing inclusion of their mandal in the new Narayanpet district from Mahabubnagar district.

Police said some people from Koilkonda mandal organised 'Vanta Varpu' (mass cooking) on the road and stopped an ambulance from proceeding.

The group, led by representatives of all parties, had been protesting for the past 10 days, demanding that the Telangana government not include Koilkonda mandal in the to-be-formed Narayanpet district, police said.

The people from the mandal have put forth their demands to the district Collector also on this matter, they said.

After the ambulance was stopped, a police team intervened and the protesters pelted the team with stones, resulting in head injury to a circle inspector and minor injuries to four other policemen, a senior police official told PTI.

Later, police dispersed the protesters, four of whom were arrested. A hunt was on to nab other absconding attackers.

"The situation has been brought under control," the official said.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, during his election campaign last year, had said that Narayanpet would be carved out of Mahabubnagar to create a new district.

With the creation of two new districts, including Mulugu to be carved out of Jayashankar Bhupalapally district, the total number of districts in the state would touch 33 from the existing 31.