Congress Flays Snapping Water, Power To OU Hostels

Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Leader Of Opposition in the Telangana Legislative Council, today charged the TRS government with human rights violation as the latter had denied water and power supply to the hostels of boarders in Osmania University on Saturday.

He dashed off a letter to the SHRC demanding a through enquiry into how the students preparing for competitive exams slated later this month were denied basic amenities.

"It is a matter of utter shame that the Vice-Chancellor personally led a posse of policemen to the hostels disconnecting water and electricity to their rooms in a highhanded and brutal manner," he said.

On Saturday night, as about 6,000 students were gearing up for Monday's competitive exam for teachers' posts, the authorities of Osmania University snapped the power and water supply to all the hostels on campus at around 7 pm.

This development came days after the varsity administration advised students to immediately move out of the hostels on campus voluntarily to enable repairs to be undertaken, and said that if they did not, they would be forcibly evacuated.

Shabbir Ali said that the university authorities had in the past allowed students to stay in the hostels to prepare for competitive examinations, but had this year issued the diktat as a punishment to the students for raising anti-CM slogans at the university's diamond jubilee celebrations on the campus three months back.

Terming the snapping of water and electricity supply to the hostels as a heinous act by the TRS government, he said that the students had no alternative but to agitate against the "dictatorial" government.

Shabbir Ali sought the intervention of the SHRC in favour of the students. He wanted a free and fair probe into why the university was harassing the students instead of enabling them to appear in competitive exams and qualify for jobs.