HYDERABAD: Tense moments were witnessed at the University of Hyderabad’s (UoH) East campus on Friday when students tried to stop the district administration from laying a road across the premises allegedly for the convenience of a gated community. Police personnel, who were at the spot in strength, detained about 15 students.
In the morning, the district administration deployed five earthmovers to pave the way for laying the road, which began uprooting lush greenery, plants and trees in the East campus. The students swung into action and tried to stop this. As the clash turned intense, police detained them. The students alleged that encroachers, backed by the Telangana government, broke the campus’ compound wall near the Indian School of Business to lay the road. The construction will destroy the biodiversity, they contended.
“The new road is for the Telangana Non-Gazetted Officers Associations’ colony, My Home and other gated communities which are owned by the people who are close to those in high places,” Mahesh, one of the students, said. “Attempts by private builders with the help of the government to encroach the university land have been on for the last few years,” the students said.
Meanwhile, the UoH has decided to move the Telangana High Court for restraining the district authorities from laying the road. “The district authorities, without giving any notice, have ordered the road construction,” the university spokesperson said.
Students union writes to NGT
The Students Union of UoH wrote to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday, and brought to its notice the issue of alleged land encroachment by the State government. The Students’ Union, in its letter to the NGT chairperson, asked the tribunal to do the needful to protect the university campus from encroachments. They also urged the NGT to prevent damage to the campus biodiversity