Hyderabad, December 14: Widespread protests and arson continued on the fourth day today across Andhra and Rayalaseema regions opposing bifurcation of the State. The TDP, the Congress and the PRP supported the agitators.
TDP MLAs even launched relay fast in Vijayawada and a fasting freedom fighter breathed his last in Prakasam district. A fasting student of Andhra University suffered heart stroke in Visakhapatnam. Protesters burned railway
stations and other offices in Anantapur district and several towns in Rayalaseema observed bandh today for the sake of `Samaikya Andhra’.
ANANTAPUR: Around 30 unidentified persons, raising `Samaikya
Andhra’ slogans attacked the Chellavaripalle railway station located on the Chennai- Mumbai route in Tadipatri mandal at around 2 pm and set ablaze
the record rooms, station master offices and generators of signals. The loss was put to Rs 20 lakh. Rail traffic on the route was affected for half an hour as the signalling system collapsed due to the burning of generators.
In Tadipatri Rural mandal Juturu railway station was set ablaze in the evening around 6 pm. Protesters also attacked IOC (Indian Oil Corporation ) office in
Guntakal and broke the glasspanes, which forced the management to close the office for the day. The B.Tech final and B Pharmacy exams scheduled tomorrow were postponed to December 21 by JNTU-A in view of the volatile
situation in the district. An uneasy calm prevailed today at Sri Krishnadevaraya University, which has become a rallying point for the `united Andhra’ agitators. Several students staged protest rallies and rasta-rokos. Gajwel MLA Narasa Reddy, who was proceeding to Bangalore, was obstructed last night in
Gooty. His vehicle was detained for around one hour by Congress workers. With the intervention of the police, the MLA proceeded to Bangalore.
CHITTOOR: Normal life remained disrupted in the district headquarters today with unannounced bandh against bifurcation of the State. Shops, hotels and markets remained closed while autorickshaws were off the road. With no
public or private transport facility available till evening, people were put to lot of inconvenience in the town. The Chittoor Bar Association had resolved to boycott the court duties and urged its member not to attend court works
on Monday. Police resorted to lathicharge in Puthalapattu to disperse the
students who blocked the busy Tirupati-Chittoor highway, resulting in hundreds of vehicles stranded on the road. Madanapalle, Punganur, Palamaner
and Kuppam towns also observed total bandh for the third day today.
Police foiled the attempt of a group of people including students who tried to damage buses in the RTC depot at Satayavedu. TDP district president N Amarnatha Reddy said that he and his party MLAs from the district
would vote against any resolution in the Assembly, seeking division of the State.
NELLORE: Opposing the Centre’s decision to bifurcate the State and demanding `united Andhra’, protesters attacked Kandaleru reservoir office and damaged the flood lights and tools used for the movement of crest gates today. Meanwhile, protesting the interruption in release of Telugu Ganga water to Poondi Canal from Kandaleru, some people in Goomidipundi, Tamil Nadu border, staged demonstrations and had reportedly stopped some of the vehicles with Andhra registration plates going toward Chennai. When contacted by Express’, Telugu Ganga project Superintendent Engineer B Ravindranath
said that the allocated share to Chennai had been already released and the entire process was completed on Saturday evening itself.
VIJAYAWADA: Telugu Desam party MLAs Devineni Umamaheswara Rao (Mylavaram) and Ch Ramakotaiah (Nuzivid) launched relay hunger strike in
support of United Andhra Pradesh in Vijayawada on Sunday. City Mayor MV Ratnabindu `submitted’ a memorandum to the Gandhi statue at the municipal
office in Vijayawada in support of United Andhra Pradesh. Former ministers Mandali Budha Prasad and Devineni Nehru (Congress) detained the Rajadhani
Express bound for New Delhi at the Vijayawada station. In Guntur district MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao threatened to resort to direct agitation by submitting
resignation if the Central Government failed to honour the sentiments of the Andhra people.
FREEDOM FIGHTER DIES: A freedom fighter who had been on
hunger strike for the past three days in support of United Andhra Pradesh died at Marturu village in Prakasam district today. District Congress Committee president Potula Rama Rao threatened to intensify the agitation in support
of United Andhra Pradesh.
VISAKHAPATNAM: One of the students of Andhra University,
Jagannadha Naidu, who has been on indefinite hunger strike for three days has suffered a heart attack and was shifted to KGH for treatment. According to doctors his health condition is said to stable. TDP workers detained the Kanyakumari Express at Visakhapatnam railway station and stopped
the train for an hour. TDP district convener Ch Ayyanna Patrudu said that the agitation would be continued till the Centre retracted its decision to bifurcate the
State. Thousands of students in the region took out rallies and burning
the effigies of Sonia Gandhi, Chidambaram and also Chief Minister K Rosaiah.
MLAs from the North Andhra region supported the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of Andhra University’s agitation for Samaikya Andhra Pradesh and interacted with the students of National Students Union of India (NSUI) at various places.
–Agencies