Hyderabad, November 21: It was an unofficial holiday for all educational institutions in Rayalaseema and Andhra region today as they remained closed voluntarily, responding to a bandh call by the Rayalaseema and Andhra JAC in protest against the state government’s decision to postpone the SI recruitment exam.
Rayalaseema and Andhra JAC activists and various student outfits took out rallies, staged dharnas and rasta rokos apart from burning state government in effigy at various places. However, no untoward incidents took place.
Police foiled a suicide attempt by a student, who doused himself in kerosene, at NTR Circle in Tirupati while 50 SI candidates climbed the Vizianagaram fort demanding resignation of chief minister and ministers Sabitha Indra Reddy and Botsa Satyanarayana.
Some protesters scaled the library building of Srikrishna Devaraya University in Anantapur threatening to commit suicide while Rayalaseema University JAC convener and five others climbed the university building in protest in Kurnool district.
KK Express was stopped for an hour in Anantapur town while Dravidian university students stopped Bangalore-Chennai Inter-City express for two-and-a-half hours at Kuppam of Chittoor district.
Visakhapatnam: Five students of Andhra University, Visakhapatnam launched an indefinite hunger strike this morning. Students burnt Opposition leader N Chandrababu Naidu in effigy as he didn’t spell out his stance on postponement of exam during his visit to Visakhapatnam. JAC leader A Kishore Kumar and five others were arrested when they tried to disrupt V semester exam at the Dr BR Ambedkar College of Law on Andhra University campus. Ten protesters were arrested for trying to enforce bandh by downing shutters at Jagadamba centre and 15 students were arrested while they were on their way to submit a representation to Visakhapatnam North MLA T Vijay Kumar.
Guntur: Students of Acharya Nagarjuna University took out rallies in the university and staged a rasta roko for an hour on the Chennai-Kolkata highway this morning and later burnt chief minister in effigy after performing a mock funeral. They vandalised furniture in the distance education block and the examination hall of the university and damaged window panes of class rooms. Bandh effect was partial in Guntur city.
Expressing his solidarity with the protestors, Lawyers JAC convener Samuel John demanded that the government should review its decision and conduct the SI exam as per schedule.
Meanwhile, Rayalaseema and Andhra Political JAC convener Samuel demanded that the government should immediately recall its decision and conduct exam as per schedule.
He said the political JAC would also stage protests actively if the government didn’t withdraw its decision by Saturday evening. Students of Vignan University at Vadlamur boycotted classes and staged rasta roko on the road. Protests were witnessed in towns like Tenali, Bapatla, Ponnur and Narasaraopet in Guntur district and Ongole and Chirala in Prakasam districts. Vijayawada: In a novel protest, members of Vivekananada Youth Association cleaned window panes of RTC buses at Benz Circle in Vijayawada while maintaining that government property shouldn’t be damaged. They urged chief minister not to take decisions keeping in view just a section of students. Schools were partially closed in Vijayawada.
Tirupati: SV University students took out a half-naked rally from the university administrative building to the Jyothi Rao Phule statue. Seemandhra student JAC leaders Seshadri Naidu, Srikanth Choudhary, Ravi Naidu and Anand Goud took part in the protests.
Advocates of the Tirupati Bar Association organised a human chain in support of the students agitation. Commercial establishments carried out business as usual and vehicular moment remained unaffected.
Samaikyandhra Parirakshana Samithi (SAPS) leaders Balasubrahmanyam and Raja Reddy blamed the government’s inefficiency for the current state of affairs.
Kadapa: Yogi Vemana University students boycotted classes and staged a rasta roko on Kadapa-Pulivendula road raising slogans against the government, bringing traffic to a grinding halt for about two hours in Kadapa.
Activists of the ABVP, Telugu Nadu Students Federation and the PRP Students Front took out rallies, staged rasta rokos and burnt government in effigy in Proddatur, Jammalamadugu, Badvel, Maidukuru, Koduru, Rajampet and Kadapa.
Anantapur: Protests were witnessed in Penugonda, Kalyandurgam, Vurvakonda, Hindupur and Guntakal areas. The TDP staged a dharna and PRP activists burnt government in effigy at the Clock Tower in Anantapur town. The protests were organised under the aegis of the Samaikyandhra JAC, Rayalaseema Vidyarthi Sangham, YSR Vidhyarthi Front and SKU JAC.
Nellore: Samaikyandhra Vidyarthi JAC activists led by Krishna Yadav staged a rasta roko at the Venkatagiri Raja College (VRC) centre and forcibly got shops closed. Raising slogans against the home minister, the activists led by JAC leaders Narendra and Sivakrishna demanded her resignation.
–Agencies