ONE more Sacrifice by Student community: T fire is burning on and on

Funeral procession of Andhra student taken to assembly

2010-03-10 10:40:00 Last Updated: 2010-03-10 10:47:23

Hyderabad: The last wish of a student who committed suicide over the delay in formation of a separate Telangana state was fulfilled when his funeral procession was allowed to be taken to Gun Park near the Andhra Pradesh state assembly here. Amid tight security, the body of Sai Kumar, a second year B. Tech student of Osmania University, was brought to Gun Park on Tuesday night to enable supporters of the Telangana movement to pay their last respects.  Osmania student commits suicide for Telangana  Sai Kumar's body was later taken to his native village Kodad in Nalgonda district where the last rites will be performed on Wednesday. The student hanged himself in his hostel room on Tuesday to protest the delay in carving out a Telangana state. In his suicide note, he expressed the wish that his body be taken in a procession to the assembly. The suicide triggered fresh tension in Osmania University, the nerve centre of the ongoing Telangana movement, as students clashed with police at Gandhi Hospital when the latter did not allow them to take the body to assembly. Some students were injured when police used batons. It was late on Tuesday that the State Human Rights Commission on a petition by the Joint Action Committee of students directed police to allow the funeral procession to Gun Park at 11 p.m. The students then brought the body to Telangana Martyrs' Memorial. M. Kodandaram, convener of all-party Joint Action Committee, and leaders of pro-Telangana groups offered their respects to Sai Kumar. The students raised slogans against political parties and elected representatives.  TDP may pull out of Telangana JAC  This was the third suicide for Telangana on the Osmania University campus. On Feb 20, a student of Class 12 immolated himself at the main entrance of the university to protest the delay in formation of Telangana state. He resorted to the extreme step in full public view during a protest by university students. In January, a MCA (master of computer applications) student set himself on fire in the university campus. His burnt body was found on Jan 19. Parties fighting for separate Telangana state claimed that over 300 students and youth have committed suicide in the region since protests began in November last year. However, there is no confirmation of this claim.

Congress turns heat on its T-MLAs

Telangana Congress MLAs will meet on January 21 to decide on the withdrawal of resignations in the wake of the Congress high command sending a stern message on the issue.

Ministers, MPs and MLAs have decided to abide by the diktats of the high command but also decided to continue to bring pressure on the leadership for the formation of Telangana.

On Monday evening, Mr Veerappa Moily, who is in charge of party affairs in the state, called the PCC chief, Mr D. Srinivas, and enquired about the withdrawals of resignations by the MLAs.

Mr Srinivas then convened an emergency meeting with the available party MLAs that was attended by the former ministers, Mr K. Jana Reddy and Mr R. Damodar Reddy. He reportedly told them about the “seriousness” of the message he received from the high command.

After the discussion both the former ministers came out of the meeting and announced that a meeting would be held on January 21 to decide on the withdrawal of resignations.

Earlier, after the Cabinet meeting in the afternoon, the higher education minister, Mr D. Sridhar Babu, said it was not fair of the Telangana Joint Action Committee to fix deadlines and expressed the hope that the Congress high command will look into all aspects of the issue.

Ministers and MPs from Telangana are planning to go to Delhi together to request party leaders to announce a time frame for addressing the issue.

Meanwhile, the Assembly Speaker, Mr N. Kirankumar Reddy, has reportedly decided to have a one-on-one meeting with MLAs who submitted their resignations to ascertain the circumstances that led to the act.

The Speaker decided to hasten the process of with the government planning the Budget Session of the House in the second week of February.

Realtors fear crushing impact from ‘Tlenga Movement by TRS is ended

Builders and developers fear that the resurgence of the Telangana movement will have a “crushing” impact on the real estate market in and around Hyderabad, which is already going through a bad patch.

If the Telangana agitation continues for a long time, the investors and players in the real estate industry can forget about any hopes of a revival in the next three years. Although the price of land and housing units will not come down further, there will be no increase in prices in the near future.

The immediate adverse impact will be on the “just picked up” sales of housing units in the range of Rs 15-30 lakh. Mr Jaiveer Reddy of Ashoka Builders said while the market for high-end flats and housing units is yet to pick up, business in the below Rs 30 lakh category had started showing signs of improvement.

Sales in this category may now slow down with the revival of the Telangana sentiment as prospective buyers would prefer to wait and watch. Mr G. Anand Reddy, the executive director of real estate giant PBA Infrastructures Ltd., agrees that the rise of the ‘T’ factor has come at a time when the lower-end market was showing signs of improvement, holding out hope of a revival in the high-end market too.

However, Andhra Pradesh Builders’ Forum president, Mr Ch. Shekhar Reddy, said the market was already at its lowest and the Telangana unrest cannot cause it any more damage.

“Some builders are selling flats at even Rs 1,400 per sq feet, although with low quality components and less specifications. At the most, they will stop selling the units. But they cannot reduce the price because they can’t go below Rs 1,400 per sq ft which is almost a break-even point,” he said.

Ramky Real Estate Group chairman, Mr Ayodhya R. Reddy, said the unrest will hit hard those builders who are already paying huge interest on money they borrowed for high-end housing projects.

Telengana boys furious as KCR ends fast

In a dramatic twist, pro-Telangana students who protested violently in support of the TRS chief, Mr K. Chandrashekhar Rao, turned on him angrily after he withdrew his “fast unto death” on Monday evening.

Mr Rao, who undertook his fast at the Khammam jail on Sunday, was shifted to the Government General Hospital where he ended the fast by accepting a glass of orange juice given by a doctor in the presence of photographers.

But students who had attacked policemen and public and private property for two days to support Mr Rao, did not take kindly to this sudden decision.

Students on the university campuses at Hyderabad, Warangal and Nizamabad protested the decision. They performed “shava yatras,” carrying effigies of Mr Rao in a mock funeral procession before setting it on fire.

Faced with the ire of the party cadre and students, Mr Rao later alleged that the police had “drugged” and “cheated” him in the hospital and forced him to break the fast. He alleged that the Greyhounds police personnel had, without permission, forcibly shifted him to the hospital. However, Mr Rao said, “I am determined to continue the struggle for a separate state.”

All through the day, TRS activists and students had gone on the rampage in Telangana districts, attacking passersby, damaging property, setting fire to vehicles and threatening suicide as part of the bandh called by the party to protest the arrest of Mr Rao. The bandh was total and disrupted normal life.

However, when students of Osmania University who had been engaged in pitched battles with the police learnt that Mr Rao had called off his fast, they changed tack and trained their guns at him.

“We have been deceived again,” said a student. “If Chenna Reddy had betrayed the students in 1969, KCR has repeated it 40 years later.” Angered at his decision, students took out a “KCR shava yatra” alleging that he betrayed theTelanaga people by claiming that he would continue the agitation till death.

“We were caned and locked in police stations, only to be betrayed by KCR,” said Jai Prakash, a student of Arts College. Baladeer Gaddar also criticised Mr Rao by saying that he had made it a habit to create drama to sustain his politics. “He is responsible for provoking the students and has to apologise,” he added.

In Nizamabad, students of Telangana University (TU) at Dichpally burnt the effigy of the TRS president. In Warangal too, his effigy was burned. Earlier, Mr Rao was shifted to the Government General Hospital from the Khammam sub-jail after his health condition appeared to deteriorate.

“He was on fast for the past 24 hours and didn’t take food in the jail,” said the Khammam jail superintendent, Mr B. Saidaiah. “He is a chronic diabetic patient.”

After ending his fast, Mr Rao said he was hurt by the suicide attempts of the students and called upon them to adopt new strategy to achieve the goals. “The agitation was launched not to commit suicide but to get separate statehood for 3.5 crore Telangana people,” he said. Specialist doctors who arrived from Hyderabad conducted medical tests and administered intravenous fluids to Mr Rao.

Throughout the day, areas surrounding Osmania University in the city saw much violence with students taking to the streets armed with sticks and clubs attacking vehicles, shops and even innocent passers-by.

Activists belonging to various students unions attacked the quarters of Dr M.D. Christopher, secretary of the AP State Council for Higher Education, and damaged his car and house. At 13 places in Telangana, TRS activists climbed cellphone towers threatening to jump to death if Mr Rao was not released. Train services were disrupted in North Telangana.

The DGP, Mr R.R. Girish Kumar, said 84 RTC buses were damaged and six set afire in the past two days. Around 3,767 TRS activists were arrested as preventive measure, he added.

Police, who aggressively caned agitating students on Sunday, remained mute spectators on Monday as bandh supporters indulged in violence. There was panic after a gunny bag containing bomb like objects was found near NIN.