HYDERABAD: Telangana agitators had a bumpy ride on the first day of their three-day rail roko stir on Saturday in the face of the tough posture adopted by the state police, unlike in the earlier rounds of the rail blockade agitation when things went easy for the activists. Though the stir started on a strong note in the morning, with the arrest of many leaders the activists became vulnerable and the intensity of the agitation came down gradually so much so that by afternoon therailways had even resumed operation of some train services cancelled earlier.Many MPs, MLAs and prominent leaders, running into hundreds, from theCongress, TRS, TDP and BJP in the region were among those arrested while cases under the Railway Act and various non-bailable sections of IPC were registered against many other leaders, including TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and TJAC chairman Kodandaram.Violence was reported at some places with agitators hurling stones at the police and the latter resorting to action against them.While the South Central Railway ran about 20 trains in and out of Secunderabad and Hyderabad during the day besides all MMTS services, commuters across the state faced inconvenience due to cancellation and delay of trains while many were stranded for hours midway due to the rail roko.Earlier, people came on to the railway tracks from early in the morning raising ‘Jai Telangana’ slogans. Dozens of Telangana leaders, including Parliamentarians and legislators were either kept under house arrest or were detained while they were heading towards the railway tracks. Though leaders like TRS MLAs T Harish Rao, K Taraka Rama Rao and Congress MP Ponnam Prabhakar put up a stiff resistance with the T activists supporting them, the police had their way in the end. At Mahabubabad in Warangal agitators hurled stones following which the police resorted to lathicharge injuring several agitators. Some cops were also injured in the skirmish. At many places, the agitators made a vain bid to protect their leaders. In one such attempt to protect MP Balaram Naik, the activists hurled stones at the police causing severe injuries to a sub-inspector of police. Pro-Telangana activists threw stones at nearly 15 RTC and private buses.Tension gripped Osmania University after police fired teargas shells on pro-Telangana students when they allegedly indulged in stone-pelting after they were prevented from venturing out of the university campus to participate in the rail roko. Students of Kakatiya University also indulged in a similar brush with the police who resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse the crowd.
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