Student, police clash ahead of Telangana march

Students of Osmania University on Thursday clashed with the city police after they were stopped from taking out a rally in support of ‘Telangana March’ proposed in Hyderabad on Sept 30, a day before the commencement of the international biodiversity conference.

Police fired tear gas shells at student activists, who resorted to stone pelting when they were blocked at the entry point of the university campus. The government has declined permission for the September 30 showdown announced earlier by the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC).

Support for the march rose on Wednesday with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), which has so far remained noncommittal to the TJAC’s call in the hope of a favourable decision from Delhi, finally endorsing the proposed demonstration. Leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress from the Telangana region have already announced their support to the proposed march.

 

TJAC chairman Kodandaram said the proposed march would be peaceful only if the government did not come in its way. “We will ensure that the Telangana march passes off peacefully if the government gives the permission,” he told reporters on Thursday.

An attempt by the government to enlist the support of the ministers from the region to persuade the activists to withdraw the proposed programme could not make headway as it received little backing from them.

However, unconfirmed reports said some compromise was being worked out between the government and the Telangana activists wherein the government would allow TJAC to take out a rally if it agrees for an alternative location instead of the Hussain Sagar announced earlier.

City police commissioner Anurag Sharma said possibility of a large-scale violence targeting people and properties of other regions in the city could not be ruled out if the proposed march was allowed to take place.

Telangana activists elsewhere in the region have raised the pitch by staging demonstrations in support of the programme while the police are making all out efforts to prevent the activists from sneaking into the city.