Telangana JAC to go ahead with ‘Sadak Bandh’

Hyderabad  :  The Telangana Joint Action Committee (JAC) Tuesday vowed to go ahead with the Hyderabad-Kurnool highway blockade Thursday even as police said that the protest lacked permission.

JAC convenor M. Kodandaram said they would stage 24-hour ‘Sadak Bandh’ to demand the immediate carving of a separate Telangana state.

Releasing wall posters for ‘Sadak Bandh’, he appealed to people to change their travel plans in view of the protest.

He said if the state assembly had passed a resolution urging the central government to grant separate statehood for Telangana, the JAC would have postponed the protest.

The JAC plans to stop vehicles entering Telangana from Rayalaseema region through Kurnool-Hyderabad highway, which is part of the Bangalore-Hyderabad highway.

It has called for protests at several places from Shamshabad on the outskirts of Hyderabad till Alampur in Mahabubnagar district, a distance of 160 km, from 9 a.m. March 21 to 9 a.m. March 22.

The protestors also plan to blockade the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Shamshabad.

Activists of JAC and various political parties including Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist Party of India (CPI) will squat on the highway, cook food and stage cultural programmes.

Meanwhile, police have clarified that there was no permission for the protest.

Mahabubnagar Superintendent of Police D. Nagender Kumar told reporters that criminal cases would be booked against those participating in the protest.

JAC had originally plan to stage the protest on Feb 24 but postponed it following twin bomb blasts in Hyderabad Feb 21.