Police stop pro-Telangana rallyists

Police stopped Osmania university students from holding a bicycle rally to Mahbubnagar to paritcipate in a Telangana JAC-organised “sadak bandh” on Thursday. The students burnt tyres and clashed with the police on Wednesday.

Legislators belonging to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) met Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy and requested her to give permission for the “sadak bandh.”
They assured her that they would organise the bandh peacefully and urged the minister to give permission to avoid unpleasant incidents.

The police had denied permission for the closure of the national highway between Hyderabad and Kurnool, which also connects Bangalore. Despite the denial, Joint Action Committee (JAC) convener Kodandaram declared that they would go ahead with the “sadak bandh.” He asked the people to postpone their journeys. Police have registered  cases against Telangana activists.

Meanwhile, DIG Nagi Reddy told the media on Wednesday that prohibitory orders under Section 144 had been imposed on the entire stretch of national highway (NH) 44, and police had been asked to arrest anyone who tried to obstruct traffic on the crucial highway passing through the state. “So far 2,500 leaders were under bind over and 6,000 policemen and women were entrusted with the duty of ensuring free flow of traffic,” he said.

Special orders are imposed from March 20 to 22, Mahboobnagar police superintendent Nagendra Kumar said. “We will arrest all the leaders who come for ‘sadak bandh,’ ” he said.
Kodandaram said the JAC would organise the “sadak bandh” under any circumstances. “We would have deferred the programme had the government tabled a resolution in the Assembly on Telangana,” he said.

Fearing threat to its buses, the APSRTC has decided to the vehicles through alternate routes. The buses towards Raichur would pass through Mehdipatnam and Parigi.