The police on Monday thwarted the proposed rally to the state Assembly by the Osmania University student joint action committee.
Prevented from coming out of the OU campus, students pelted stones forcing the police to fire tear gas shells at them.
Deputy speaker N Manohar adjourned the house without taking up the scheduled business for discussion today as Opposition parties pressed for revoking the suspension on legislators, who had physically disrupted the Governor's address on opening day of the Budget session.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) declared that its members would not allow the Assembly to function until the state government agrees to introduce a resolution favouring the bifurcation of the state during the current session.
Sporadic incidents
As the day passed, sporadic incidents were reported from different parts of the city. A group of agitating students set fire to a couple of railway compartments at Jamai Osmania railway station and damaged window panes of an MMTS railway station at Necklace road. A few road transport corporation run buses were also damaged.
While the South Central Railway cancelled the local trains on the Secunderabad-Falaknuma route later in the day, city roads witnessed traffic jams till afternoon as police diverted the usual traffic on several routes to insulate the areas around the Assembly from possible student protests.
The police today also stopped the pro-Telangana lawyers midway as they were marching towards Raj Bhavan to protest against the Governor and in support of their demand for the introduction of Telangana Bill in Parliament.
Meanwhile, the state government failed to make any headway either on the non-cooperation protest launched three days ago by government employees and teachers in Telangana or with the management of professional colleges who had threatened to close their institutions from February 24 unless the government gives a clear assurance on payment of tuition fee dues besides paying 50 per cent of the amount up-front.
Representatives of the agitating government employees said they would review their stand only if the government rectifies the injustice meted out to the Telangana region in government services and also gets the President’s assent on the issue of removal of ‘free zone’ status to the city of Hyderabad among others.
Revenues collections dip
The non-cooperation protest has also affected the revenue collections from various departments, especially excise, stamps and registration and commercial taxes. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC)’s on-line tax collections through e-seva centres has also come down drastically in last couple of days, said officials.
In a further embarrassment to the government, around 50 irrigation contractors upset over nonpayment of bills registered their protest by sitting on the floor at the chambers of principal secretary, finance. They were demanding immediate clearance of their dues amounting to around Rs 1,800 crore, outstanding as on September, 2010.
The 48-hour bandh call given by Telangana JAC and TRS in the Telangana region from tomorrow is also aimed at putting pressure on the Centre to introduce the Bill in Parliament. Most of the political parties, including TDP Telangana forum, have announced their support to the bandh.
