Telangana students ransack exam centre at Osmania

HYDERABAD - Students protesting the conduct of the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) exam ransacked an exam centre at the Osmania University campus here Sunday, leaving three injured.

Tension prevailed at the B.Ed college as protesters broke the security cordon and barged into the exam centre. Some students writing the test came out with question papers and answer sheets and tore and dumped them on the roads, police said.

The students were injured in a scuffle with police, which used batons against the protesters and arrested many of them, a police official said.

Although the police made elaborate security arrangements in view of the boycott call given by the Osmania University Joint Action Committee (OUJAC) and other pro-Telangana groups, the protesters outnumbered them.

Activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and OUJAC uprooted the security barricades and broke into the college. The police failed to prevent them.

Four MPs of the ruling Congress party and leaders of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) also joined the protesting students.

Despite the boycott and Telangana shutdown called by student groups and pro-Telangana parties and leaders, the APPSC went ahead with the the Group I Prelim exam amid tight security.

Police deployment was marked at 445 centres where the exam began at 10.30 a.m.

Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from different parts of Telangana as the shutdown evoked partial response.

The strike affected services of the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corp (APSRTC) in Karimnagar and Warangal districts. The impact was partial in the remaining eight districts including Hyderabad.

Legislators and leaders of the TRS and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) were taken into custody in different parts of Telangana.

The pro-Telangana groups were demanding that the exam be postponed till the share of the region in the Group I postings is made clear. They were demanding 42 percent share for the region.

More than 1.6 lakh candidates are writing the exam for recruitment to 198 posts.