Security personnel were caught off guard with a flash protest staged by a group of students from Osmania University at C-Block in Telangana Secretariat on Monday evening.
They tried to barge into the building that houses Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s office, protesting the government’s proposal to construct apartments to the poor living in slums in Parsigutta area in 11 acres land belonging to the university. The Chief Minister, however, was not present in his office when the students took to the protest.
Sloganeering
The police wasted no time in reacting to the unexpected move from the students and prevented them from forcing their way into C-Block raising slogans against the Chief Minister – “CM down, down”. The police first whisked away the protesting students outside the security cordon in front of the C-Block, arrested them and bundled them into police vans.
About 20 students belonging to National Students Union of India (NSUI) led by Kailash staged the protest when most of the officers and Ministers were away participating in Swachh Hyderabad and Swachh Telangana programme.
A large number of onlookers, including the Secretariat employees, gathered there as the students raised the slogans loudly. Mr. Kailash said later that they would not allow the government to snatch the university land that had already shrunk to a large extent due to encroachments and allotment to other State and Central Government institutions. “When other lands are available for constructing houses to the poor, why the government is planning to take OU lands”, he sought to know.
Threaten stir
He demanded that the government take back its decision or else the university students would launch an agitation on a large-scale. The students, who played a key role in the movement of statehood to Telangana, were already disappointed with the government as there had been no job notification issued so far, he noted. “There are several farm houses and film cities that have come up on encroached government lands. The government could better focus on resuming such lands for building houses to the poor instead of eating into the lands of OU”, the students said after their arrest.
Security personnel caught off guard as students raise slogans opposing move to acquire OU land for constructing houses for the poor
