Hyderabad: Students from various universities, including Osmania University, Kakatiya University, JNTUH extended solidarity with the ongoing protests at University Of Hyderabad (UoH) against the State government’s decision to auction 400 acres of land in Kancha Gachibowli.
The English and Foreign Languages University and JNTUH students condemned the ongoing clearing of the biodiversity-rich land. Several student unions of Osmania University organised a protest in the varsity campus and demanded immediate withdrawal of land auction and sought protection of the land and wildlife there. A similar scenario was witnessed at Kakatiya University. Later, police arrested the protesters from the Arts College and shifted them to the local police station.
The protesters urged immediate and unconditional release of all students who were detained during protest against clearing of the land for auction. They also urged to set up an independent and transparent inquiry into the incidents of police action on students, besides ending the criminalisation of student activism.
Nagaraju, a student of OU, said, “The auction of the land will damage the biodiversity. Already the government had grabbed 100 acres of Agricultural University land in the name of High Court. Now, they have set their sights on the UoH lands. It will be better if state government immediately removes the JCBs deployed in the campus, and they should also give a written assurance that the university should take up steps to ensure that the land is registered under the University and should release the Minutes of Executive Committee meeting held on the issue.”
The agitation would be further intensified if the government did not drop the idea of auctioning 400 acres of land on the University of Hyderabad in Kancha Gachibowli, he added.