With the Telangana Joint Action Committee (TJAC) determined to undertake the Sadak Bandh on the Hyderabad-Bangalore national highway (NH) in Mahbubnagar district on Sunday, demanding a separate Telangana state, police officials on Wednesday said criminal cases would be registered against agitators who participated in the sit.
Deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Y Nagi Reddy told Express that police had not granted permission to the TJAC activists to block the National Highway on Sunday. “We took as many as 1,510 persons, who were previously involved in various agitations, into preventive custody. At least 10,000 policemen will be deployed on the Hyderabad-Bangalore highway from Timmapur to Alampur,” Reddy said.
The DIG also asked district collectors to consider implementing section 144 (unlawful assembly) on Sunday in various places.
Meanwhile, TRS MLAs and leaders demanded that the state government grant permission to the TJAC for the Sadak Bandh programme.
Gearing up for the sit, the TRS organised a Bus Yatra programme on Wednesday from the Assembly to villages dotting the NH from Timmapur to Alampur. TRS MLAs and leaders belonging to Hyderabad, Rangareddy and Mahbubnagar districts participated in the yatra.
Earlier, a delegation of TRS met home minister P Sabita Indira Reddy and submitted a memorandum for granting permission to the proposed protest programme.
Addressing media at the Assembly, TRS MLA T Harish Rao said since the Congress led UPA government failed to fulfil its promise of granting a separate Telangana state on Dec. 9, 2009, the people of Telangana had all the right to a democratic protest. He also said the state government should grant the permission for the Sadak Bandh as it would ensure that the sit passes off peacefully.
With the Parliament’s budget session scheduled to begin from Thursday, he said they would organise the programme to build pressure on the Centre. “TRS does not believe in violence and would rather observe the programme peacefully,” Rao said, adding that TRS had identified 11 points on NH where the party would be observing the protest programme. He urged all Telangana organisations to take part in the programme.
TRS legislature party leader E Rajendar warned the state government of dire consequences if they did not allow the Sadak Bandh programme, and urged people of Mahbubnagar to make the protest a success.