RT ruckus on OU campus

Hyderabad: With the Telangana aligned student unions of Osmania University calling for a strike opposing the proposal of Rayala Telangana on Thursday, Osmania University campus, the hot bed of pro-Telangana agitation, was once again on boil.

Stones were pelted, tear gas shells were lobbed and OU turned violent. An inspector, Vijay Srinivas and four students sustained minor injuries in the attack.

The campus area was heavily barricaded and no vehicles were allowed to move inside. The main road that leads to the Arts College Building was cordoned off and people were asked to navigate via Nallakunta main road.

The police stepped up security all along the streets. Not only were the main roads blocked but even sub-lanes and diversions too were cordoned off causing hardships to the people staying in nearby colonies.

At around 10.30 am a pitched battle broke out between the students and police as the pro-Telangana students including TGVP, TRSV and PDSU formed to take out a bike rally to Gun Park near Assembly. Enraged over the refusal of the police, the students started pelting stones and the security forces including, CRPF, RAF burst tear gas shells in retaliation to disperse the crowds. This shelling went on for an hour and students dispersed after tenth shells was lobbed off. By the evening the aggressive atmosphere at OU subsided and at around 4 pm the bandh was called off on the campus.

According to police, they had to lob over 11 tear gas shells and few sound bombs to disperse the aggressive mob. In the melee, students also set on fire the barricades that were set up to prevent them from moving out.

Marking their protest, the students also burned the effigies of Group of Ministers (GoM) and central government.

Talking to media, Krishank, a student union leader said, 60 years of agitation and the sacrifice of Telangana people was not for Rayala Telangana. He said the people want Telangana State which they had desired. Formation of Rayala Telangana was not acceptable to the people this region. It would also adversely affect the interests of Rayalaseema region, he said.

Another student leader, Pidamarthy Ravi, Chairman, Telangana Student Joint Action Committee (TSJAC), said, “We will not accept anything short of a separate state consisting of 10 districts.” He said, they will not resort to anymore agitations or aggressive moves instead they will challenge this verdict in the court of law.