Hyderabad: As student protests at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) persist, demanding the protection of Kancha Gachibowli’s green cover, numerous earth movers arrived on Monday to clear and level the land. This has further escalated the standoff between the UoH community and the state government, with students intensifying their agitation.

While eight excavators were brought in at the UoH East campus on Sunday afternoon, their numbers were increased to 50 from last night to speed up the works, including removal of trees, plants and leveling of land. In that regards several students union of UoH and few environmental activists continued with protest in the front of the varsity gate. They also urged for immediate release of the two students who are still in the custody of police, as they both have been charged under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including Section 329(3)(criminal trespass), (discharging duty), 191(3) (being armed with a deadly weapon) and few more.

According to the students, around 52 students were detained by the Cyberabad police on Sunday after they staged a protest on the East campus against the clearing of the land. Later, they were released along with two journalists. Two students, Naveen, a PhD scholar from the Department of Political Science, and Rohit Bondugula, an Institution of Eminence (IoE) postdoctoral fellow, are under police custody and will be taken to Nampally Court.

A few student protestors pointed out that ever since the State government decided to auction 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli, the university students and teaching and non-teaching communities have been up in arms against the State government. They also stated that any development activity would spell doom for the flora and fauna, creating ecological imbalance besides destroying lung space for the city.

Nihad Sulaiman, general secretary of the Students Union of University, said, “This matter is in the Telangana High Court, and the court has given the State government time until early April to submit a counter. Despite of that, the authorities had moved in heavy machinery to clear the land, and when a few students took a stand, policemen manhandled them and took them under custody. Even I was among them and still, two students are under custody. To save the green cover, we will continue with our protest.”