Ahead of Srikrishna report, security tightened in Andhra

HYDERABAD - Security was tightened in Andhra Pradesh Thursday as the Srikrishna Committee on the Telangana issue is all set to submit its report to the central government.

Fifty companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed in addition to the state police forces across the state, especially in the Telangana region.

As the five-member Srikrishna Committee, which looked into the demands for and against separate statehood to Telangana, has sought an appointment with union Home Minister P. Chidambaram to submit its report, the police in the state went on alert.

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy reviewed the law and order situation with state Home Minister P. Sabita Indra Reddy, Director General of Police Aravinda Rao and other senior officials.

The chief minister asked the police chief to take all precautionary measures to maintain peace and law and order. A police official said they were not taking any chances in view of the violent incidents of last year.

As many as 25 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF) and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have been deployed in and around Hyderabad.

Since the violent incidents late last year and early this year had affected the Information Technology sector and created fears among people from Andhra and Rayalaseema settled in Hyderabad, the authorities beefed up the security here.

While 18 companies are deployed in Hyderabad to tackle any protests after the report is made public, five companies will provide security in Cyberabad, the IT district housing many global and national giants. Two more companies will be on standby at the office of the DGP.

Hyderabad is one of the 10 districts of Telangana. The authorities had deployed two companies each in seven other districts of the region.

The remaining para-military forces were deployed in Andhra and Rayalseema regions. Two companies were deployed in Visakhapatnam rural, and one each in Anantapur, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam city, Vijayawada and Guntur.

As Osmania University in Hyderabad was the nerve centre of the agitation for Telangana state late last year and early this year, bulk of the forces in Hyderabad were stationed at Amberpet Central Police Lines to deal with any student unrest.

The central government has asked the media to exercise restraint in telecasting stories relating to the Srikrishna Committee report. The information and broadcasting ministry has urged the media not to carry speculative stories which may cause untoward incidents.

The National Broadcasters Association (NBA) has issued guidelines for the television channels and cable operators in Andhra Pradesh.