Even as the pro-Telangana groups are gearing up for the proposed Telangana March on September 30, the Andhra Pradesh police has begun the exercise of preventing students and other individuals from arriving in Hyderabad from Telangana districts. Checkposts have been set up at all the entry points to Hyderabad, and anyone suspected of coming to the city for participating in the march are being sent back.
Simultaneously, 20 companies of the Central Para-military Forces including the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Boder Security Force (BSF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), besides some companies of Rapid Action Force (RAF), have started to arrive in the city.
Top police sources disclosed to Express that three busloads of students, who were coming to participate in the march, were sent back at Suryapet night. “We are sending back students and other individuals who are coming to the city to participate in the march,” a senior police official said.
On the other hand, the paramilitary forces that were initially meant to be a part of the bandobast programme for COP-11, starting October 1, have been asked to come in advance so that they can be roped in the bandobast arrangements for the proposed march.
“We have chalked out a few plans to tackle the march and are working on it,” the official said. Meanwhile, home minister P Sabita Indra Reddy reviewed the arrangements being made for the proposed march.
The sources said that though the meeting also discussed the measures being taken for the Ganesh immersion and COP-11, the main focus was on the Telangana march.
The police officials apprised her of the latest intelligence inputs on the movements of various leaders expected to participate in the march and possible trouble-spots that could be targeted during the march. “In the Million March, the number of pro-Telangana activists that had participated was between 3,000 and 4,000. The inputs suggest that the number could be less than the Million march,” another senior officer said.
The Hyderabad city police is in the process of making the arrangements for the immersion day. “Though the immersion is on September 29, it normally continues till the next day, sometimes till afternoon. We are making arrangements accordingly,’’ sources said.
The government and several of its ministers had already appealed to the TJAC to postpone the march, keeping in view that the city will be hosting the prestigious World Conference on Bio-diversity. The home minister too is said to have cautioned the TJAC leaders to keep the image of Hyderabad in mind, before going ahead with the march.