Hyderabad, September 01: The ongoing tussle between regionalists and the Osmania University authorities continued on Tuesday with the task of evaluating B Ed answer scripts by evaluators from Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions once again married by protests.
Tuesday’s protestors however were not students but evaluators from Telangana who demanded that the state government lift all the police cases filed against Telangana protagonists.
The protests began as soon as the evaluation process got underway amidst tight security.
The Telangana evaluators raised slogans like ‘Go back Seemandhra lecturers’ and took out a rally along with students on the University campus.
The lecturers alleged that the University authorities had appointed Seemandhra lecturers for valuation work to hit the chances of Telangana students.
Rising `Jai Telangana’ slogans, they demanded that the police lift all cases against Telangana students, who participated for cause of Telangana statehood agitation.
The lecturers warned the government that they would not allow valuation process until the government lifts the police cases against Telangana students. The lecturers also made it clear that they would not allow the evaluation until the University officials ensure that Seemandhra lecturers have no part to play in the evaluations.
It took the intervention of Vice-Chancellor Tirupathi Rao to calm the agitating lecturers and students and convince them to end their protest. Prof Rao assured the protestors that he would look into the issue.
Earlier on August 28, pro-Telangana students had manhandled academicians present in the campus for B Ed spot valuation, demanding that the spot valuations be conducted only by evaluators from Telangana region.
That incident had led to widespread protests with state Governor ESL Narasimhan expressing his anguish at the turn of events. Mr Narasimhan had also sought a report on the incident.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Prof Tirupathi Rao blamed the media for blowing the August 28 incident out of proportion. He said that continuous depiction of scenes of violence on television had led to the violence incident’s ramifications being felt in other universities across the state.
The authorities had deployed additional police forces to maintain law and order and to prevent untoward incidents in the campus on Tuesday.
——-INN