By IANS,
Hyderabad: With Telangana leaders rejecting the terms of reference of the Srikrishna panel and student groups calling for a shutdown Saturday, police went on alert in Hyderabad and nine other districts of the region.
Anticipating violent protests, police tightened security at the chief minister’s camp office, universities, the state assembly and other vital installations.
As soon as the central government announced the terms of reference, which a majority of pro-Telangana parties see unfavourable to the demand for a Telangana state, police were rushed to the Osmania University, which has been the never centre of Telangana agitation for over two months.
Demanding that the centre immediately dissolve the panel, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Osmania University students said that only people’s struggle could achieve a separate state of Telangana.
The JAC, which is spearheading the student movement for Telangana state, also asked people to launch a non-cooperation movement as it called for a shutdown Saturday.
JAC leaders said they would lay siege to all government offices in the region.
Police were also deployed at Kakatiya University in Warangal town, where students took out a procession, shouting slogans against the central government.
Student groups of Kaktiya University and other universities in the region have extended their support to the JAC’s shutdown call.