Tension in OU - Bandh peaceful in city

Except for some tense moments in the Osmania University campus, the 48-hour bandh called by the Telangana Political Joint Action Committee to mount pressure on the Centre to announce a decision on separate Telangana state continued to be peaceful in the state Capital. Tension prevailed in Osmania University for some time after a group of about 100 students pelted stones at the police, leading to the police resorting to lobbing tear gas shells at them.

The skirmish between the police and the students was a result of the former’s decision to stop suspended Telugu Desam Party leader from Telangana Nagam Janardhan Reddy and rebel TDP MLA Harishwar Reddy from entering the campus to express solidarity with the bandh being observed by the students.

When news filtered to the students that the police had stopped the TDP leaders, they gathered near the Arts College and began to march towards the campus entrance on the Vidyanagar side. The police immediately blocked the entrance to which the students objected. The verbal duel led to the stone pelting which was soon contained.

The police shifted the two TDP leaders to the Amberpet police station. Meanwhile, the police also arrested TDP rebel leader T Harish Rao at RTC Crossroads when he was proceeding towards Osmania University campus to express solidarity to Osmania University Joint Action Committee agitation.

Elsewhere, as expected, the State Road Transport Corporation suspended its services in the city fearing violence or vandalism by separate statehood activists. Shops and business establishments also downed their shutters while thin attendance was reported at offices both in public and private sector. The educational institutions had already declared holiday in view of the bandh call. Cinema theatres were also closed while some auto-rickshaws were also off the roads. Meanwhile, reports of pro-Telangana activists staging rallies and dharnas at all vital junctions came through. However, with the deployment of central paramilitary forces at all centres, the bandh was incident-free.