Hyderabad, February 3: Unprecedented security arrangements were witnessed in and around Barkas on Wednesday in view of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s visit to the area as part of the Racha Banda programme.
Comparison to an unannounced ‘curfew’ was forthcoming from the residents, especially after police forced business establishments and schools in area to close down.
According to sources, the unprecedented security arrangements were put in place as the Chief Minister made his intentions clear that he did not want his programme to be disrupted by activists of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, as was the case in his earlier programmes in Telangana region.
The tight security did ensure that no untoward incident was witnessed, but it did give rise to rumblings among the locals.
The residents of the Hafiz Baba Nagar, who had been waiting anxiously to air their grievances before the Chief Minister could not even get to see him, let alone meet him.
“This was the first visit of the Chief Minister to the area and we have been waiting in line so as to bring our problems to his notice, unfortunately the security personnel did not even allow us to have his glimpse,’’ rued Mr Osman one of the Hafiz Baba Nagar residents.
Apart from the high security personnel deployed there, around 80 buses, most of them bearing registration numbers of neighbouring Karnataka state, were seen.
These buses had brought the ‘crowds’ to attend the Racha Banda programme, which was held to enable Old City residents to air their grievances.
Among the schools affected by the ‘shutdown’ were Gowtam Grammer School, St Hafsa, Akber Nagar Government Upper Primary School and others.
INN