Hyderabad, October 24: Aspirants of DSC-2008 kept police on tenterhooks all through the day on Saturday. A large number of them tried to barge into Secretariat in the morning and in the process caused commotion in the area and a traffic snarl. In the afternoon, the agitators, who outnumbered the security personnel, succeeded in gatecrashing into the Assembly. Police had to chase them and use force to push them out of the Assembly.
The agitators had been protesting against providing 30 per cent reservation to DEd candidates in recruitment for teacher posts. The state government, however, did not react to the agitation despite the fact that the condition of three of the five candidates who have been on a hunger strike has deteriorated.
Later in the day, all the five candidates left notes making the state government responsible in case of their death. One of them, Srinivas, wrote, “The state government should take care of my family members if I die.” Meanwhile, the situation at the hospital charged up suddenly when police entered the Disaster Ward, where the protestors have locked themselves up, and forcibly evacuated the supporters. At one point of time, electricity was disconnected in the ward for nearly 30 minutes. Following this, the DSC aspirants camping at the hospital rose in protest and raised slogans against the police causing mild tension. According to hospital authorities, the condition of fasting Jaya Prakash, Srinivas and Raheem has been deteriorating and that they are not cooperating with doctors to take treatment. The condition of the other two on fast — V Jyothi and Vasudeva Rao — is comparatively better.
Earlier, at around 2 p.m, nearly 100 agitators gathered outside the Assembly and tried to force their way inside. Sensing trouble, the security personnel tried to close the gates. However, the protestors, who clearly outnumbered the security personnel, thrust their way forward outpowering the guards and breaking open the gates. The protestors then started running in all directions into the Assembly causing panic among the security personnel. Wielding lathis, the security personnel chased the agitators and managed to push them out of the Assembly premises. All through, the protestors kept raising slogans like “We want common merit”.
Additional personnel were posted at the Assembly to prevent recurrence of the event. Later, the agitators tried to continue their protest by sitting in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue but that was also foiled. Led by central zone deputy commissioner of police Akun Sabharwal, the police personnel bundled the protestors into a van.
Earlier in the day, a similar attempt was made at Secretariat but police thwarted it. Around 11 a.m more than 300 protestors tried to gatecrash into Secretariat premises but were blocked by the security personnel. The protestors disrupted traffic for more than 30 minutes and police had to forcibly shift them in vans to the Gandhi Nagar and Nampally police stations. Several officials of Secretariat also got stranded outside as police closed all the entry points.
“The government has to react to our genuine demands. They cannot take decisions which go against the interests of the candidates who have either taken the appointment orders or are about to get them,” A Bharat, an aspirant
–Agencies.