The Telangana rail-roko on Saturday disrupted rail services in South Central Railways and cut off links with the rest of the country.
Protesters were seen blockading the tracks across the Telangana region with the first day of the three-day agitation causing more interruption than authorities had actually hoped for.
Tension gripped the railway stations in the region, as several former MPs, MLAs and ministers from Congress and other parties converged on the tracks and were promptly arrested by the police.
Paramilitary troops fought pitched battles with the agitators in Mahbubabad of Warangal district. Security forces engaged in a cinematic chase to arrest leaders engaged in the blockade.
Medak MP Vijay Shanti was detained near Lakdi-ka-Pul station, while Karimnagar Congress MP Ponnam Prabhakar and ex-minister Jeevan Reddy were arrested at Karimnagar station.
Congress MPs S Rajaiah, Manda Jagannatham, G Vivek, Madhu Yashki Goud, Balram Nayak, Rajagopal Reddy, Gutha Sukhendar Reddy and Congress Rajya Sabha member K Keshav Rao were also amongst the prominent leaders arrested on the first day of the agitation.
K Taraka Rama Rao, son of TRS president K Chandrasekar Rao, was arrested for staging an agitation before the residence of Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy, while KCR’s daughter Kavitha was detained at the country’s biggest good’s yard Moulali. The nephew of TRS leader T Harish Rao was also arrested in Medak district.
As was warned previously by the DGP, Kavitha and others were arrested under various sections of the Railways Act, 1989.
DGP Dinesh Reddy and other high level officers reviewed the situation at the SCR headquarters and also conducted an aerial survey of the stations on a chopper.
The scene at major railway stations have been videoed, as authorities have also booked cases against top leaders like KCR and T-JAC convenor Prof Kodandaram.
Violence in Osmania
Osmania University witnessed violence as students trying to take out a rally to a nearby railway station pelted stones at the police attempting to stop them. In response, the police lathi charged them and lobbed tear gas. Students torched a bus near Tarnaka.
Despite cancelling nearly 124 passenger trains and diverting or rescheduling a few others, South Central Railway had successfully brought in 10 long-distance trains without trouble.
The trains are: Dakshin Express, Padmavathi Express, Gauwhati – Secunderabad Express, Godavari Express, Machilipatnam – Secunderabad Express, Mumbai – Hyderabad Express, Yeswantpur – Kacheguda Express, Bangalore – Kacheguda Express, Chittoor – Kacheguda Express and Chennai Egmore – Kacheguda Express.
All the trains arrived safely at Secunderabad, Hyderabad and Kacheguda stations.
Similarly, the four trains – Secunderabad – Tandur Passenger, Nizamabad – Bodhan Passenger, Kazipet – Vijayawada Passenger and Secunderabad – Sirpur Kagaznagar Telangana Express departed to their respective destinations.
SCR also announced that it would run Hyderabad-Mumbai Hussain Sagar Express and Secunderabad-Rajkot Express on different schedules due to delayed arrival of the incoming trains.