Students and their parents went back dejected as the engineering counselling could not be held on the second successive day on Tuesday. The students and their parents reached the counselling centres early but the Samaikhyandhra JAC leaders, RTC union leaders and All Polytechnic Lecturers Association (PALA) members staged protests near the gates preventing the entry of students.
PALA president Chandrasekhar ruled out the prospect of the polytechnic lecturers resuming duties till the government came out with a categorical assurance on keeping the State united. Students were asked not to worry as web counselling dates would be changed and alternative arrangements made for verification of certificates.
It is learnt that the authorities in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram district were making alternative arrangements for shifting of the web counselling venues to the universities to overcome the problem.
Though no announcement has been made so far, it was said the counselling in Visakhapatnam could be shifted to Andhra University at short notice, if the agitation continued. The officials have already intimated that the students can go for certificate verification till August 30.
Meanwhile, the Samaikhyandhra agitation is growing in strength by the day as more and more groups are joining the people’s movement against bifurcation of the State. The inflammatory remarks by Telangana leaders are fanning the agitation further.
CAs rally today
Chartered accountants, tax consultants and students will take out a rally from ICAI Bhavan at Pithapuram Colony at 9.30 a.m. on Wednesday to express solidarity with the ongoing movement for unified State.
Vanta Varpu
Following a call given by GVMC JAC, “Vanta-varpu” protest will be organised by GVMC Employees’ Union on Wednesday, according JAC chairman Marianna and union president M. Ananda Rao. The protest will be organised at the Zone I office at Madhurawada, Satyam Junction, near the flyover at RTC Complex, NAD Kotha Road and Zone VI office at Vepagunta.
Private buses detained
APSRTC National Mazdoor Union on Tuesday stopped private buses to make their voice heard for Samaikyandhra loud and clear to the Centre against bifurcation. The union members squatted at Gurudwara, NAD Kotha Road, Gajuwaka and other places and detained long-distance private buses.
On the plea of members of a marriage party, they let off a private bus to perform the ceremony at Annavaram after detaining it for some time at Gurudwara junction. “My son’s marriage is scheduled on Wednesday morning. On our request they allowed us to go,” Ganga Rao, a jeep driver in Integrated Child Development Scheme office, said after heaving a sigh of relief. The protesters raised slogans and demanded private bus operators not to ply their vehicles to support the Samaikyandhra agitation.
NMU regional secretary Y. Srinivasa Rao told reporters that the private bus operators had gone back on their promise to take part in the strike. “The APSRTC staff are on an indefinite strike for past eight days. It is unfortunate that the private bus operators were selling tickets at double the normal price and trying to weaken our agitation against granting Statehood to Telangana,” he said.
