The Students’ Union at the University of Hyderabad (UoH), which has locked horns with the Telangana Government over the proposed auction of 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli adjoining the varsity, called on state AICC in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan Sunday.
Nihad Sulaiman, general secretary of the Students Union, said they met the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge along with the Teachers’ Association as part of the Joint Action Committee. “The union put forward three immediate demands: to release the students Erram Naveen and Rohith Kumar from judicial remand; to revoke all charges against students and activists; and to remove all police force from campus,” Sulaiman said.
The Cyberabad police arrested the two protesting students on March 30 on charges of rioting and criminal trespass at the disputed site.
The union also demanded that they must be allowed to undertake damage assessment surveys and gather biodiversity data at the 400-acre land, along with expert faculty and researchers. It expressed strong dissent over the police violence that students faced on the campus and criticised the Congress-led state government and the party’s student wing the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) for facilitating it.
The Union expressed happiness over the assurance they received from Natarajan to actively pursue these demands through the party channel, Sulaiman said.
The AICC in-charge had on Saturday met Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, IT Minister D Sridhar Babu and Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, the group of ministers formed by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy to resolve the impasse over the issue.
Meanwhile, the Cyberabad police issued orders prohibiting people “who do not ordinarily have work in the area” from entering the 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli “for any other purpose other than their bonafide work”. The order will be in force till April 16.
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