Old City Curfew Leaves Roads Empty

With Hyderabad police commisioner A K Khan issuing orders that any person found creating trouble in Hyderabad will be fired at, the entire Old City reached a deathly standstill.

All vehicle movements have been stopped, and roads deserted. Extra police forces have been sent from the centre and distributed over the entire 17 police station sectors in the area.

Chandrayangutta and Falaknuma had sporadic incidents of strife, but were controlled by the police immediately. Gulzar House witnessed trouble when a Hanuman rally was trying to be initiated, which was brought into control by the police severely.

The civil life in the Old City reached a complete standstill since the last 3 days, with local residents keeping themselves from stepping outside, out of morbid fear. The locals are also finding it difficult to meet basic needs such as milk, drinking water, vegetables and oil. Daily wagers have their hearts in their mouths, having no clue about what to do to arrange for a square meal.

Although exams for students whose centres lie in Old City have been postponed, students from Old City reaching other institutions are facing trouble, since no official announcement regarding the fate of their exams was made.

Debates on the riots began in the Assembly on Tuesday, with the TDP saying that the escalated violence was a result of the inability of the government to ensure law and order. The TDP demanded that the issue be addressed in the Assembly. The CM, however, said that it would be highly inappropriate to discuss such a sensitive issue in the House, and that a meeting was scheduled later for the same purpose. With the TDP unrelenting, the Assembly was adjourned.

The CM held a meeting at 11am, to discuss the measures that must be taken up for restoring law and order within the Old City. It was attended by the entire Opposition. The issue of why the goverment failed in the weekend's incidents is expected to be raised by the Opposition.

The Srikrishna committee, scheduled to visit the Telangana region in the beginning of this April has postponed the visit until the unrest settles down and peace is restored in the city.

The imposed curfew, on which no decision & announcement on when it would end was made, is still on.