Police officer’s staff joins Telangana protests

HYDERABAD - Amid growing demands for carving a separate Telangana state out of Andhra Pradesh, some staff of a senior police officer in Medak district Thursday joined the on-going non-cooperation movement against the state government.

Employees of the office of the Medak district police superintendent joined the Telangana movement and demanded a bill in parliament for the formation of a separate Telangana state.

Leaders of the Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) staged a sit-in outside the police superintendents office following reports that he warned employees against joining the movement.

Andhra Pradesh Police chief Aravinda Rao, however, denied that any police have joined the movement.

He told reporters in Hyderabad that only office staff from the Medak SP’s office were participating in the on-going non-cooperation movement in the Telangana region. He clarified that the protesting employees were not policemen.

The development came amid reports that policemen in Warangal and other districts were contemplating to join the separate Telangana agitation. They held meetings during last week to discuss their support to the Telangana movement.

Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) legislator K. Tarakarama Rao appealed to policemen to join other government employees participating in the movement. He told reporters that the policemen in other districts should emulate their counterparts in Medak.

About 300,000 government employees in the Telangana region, comprising 10 districts, including Hyderabad, are participating in the non-cooperation movement which began Feb 17.

The employees are not working beyond office hours and those in the revenue collection departments are not collecting revenues from Telangana people, causing huge losses to the state exchequer.

The JAC has appealed to people in the region not to buy tickets for travelling in buses of the state-owned Road Transport Corporation and not to pay taxes and bills for utility services.