‘Those resorting to violence will be dealt with firmly’

Police Commissioner says he has not received any application seeking permission for Telangana March

The Hyderabad Police Commissioner, Anurag Sharma, said that they had received inputs about the outbreak of violence during the proposed Telangana March on Sunday and warned that those resorting to violence would be dealt with firmly.

Recalling that violence had erupted during such programmes earlier, he appealed to the people from other parts of the State not to come to the city for the march rechristened as ‘Sagaraharam’, at the customary press conference held ahead of the Ganesh idols’ immersion procession on Wednesday.

The immersion procession beginning on Saturday will continue into the next day, he pointed out and said that scores of women, children, senior citizens and devotees would be congregating at the Tank Bund and Necklace Road to witness the event.

“There will be trouble if any agitation is organised at these places, hence no permission was given for the Telangana March,” he asserted.

The Commissioner maintained that he had not received any formal application seeking permission for the programme.

“Kodandaram and others met me yesterday and informed me about the programme. I requested him to defer the programme,” Mr. Sharma said.

When asked if permission would be given if the Telangana Joint Action Committee (T-JAC) agreed to organise the programme on any other day, he said they would ‘examine it’.

He appealed to the T-JAC to realise that people of Hyderabad were also part of Telangana.

Inconvenience to people

“T-JAC leaders should understand that if Hyderabadis are put to inconvenience, it would mean causing difficulty to the Telangana people as well,” he said.

Over 15,000 policemen, including the city police force, will be deployed for security arrangements for the procession. Three hundred hypersensitive and nearly double the number of sensitive points were identified.

Till now, 2,000 idols have already been immersed in Hussain Sagar while nearly 10,000 more are to be immersed on the final day (September 29).

Nine additional cranes are being used compared to the previous year to ensure quicker immersion of idols.

Scores of surveillance cameras are being used to keep tab on trouble-makers. Individuals are also welcome to help us in identifying trouble-makers by giving the police pictures and visuals recorded by their mobile phones and cameras, the Commissioner said.

Efforts are on to start the final day procession at the earliest by holding talks with the pandal organisers. “Start early and return home early for the safety of all” is the motto for the event this year, Mr. Sharma added.