Cops issue 3,000 permits to students
At SR Nagar and Punjagutta police stations, officials “issued nearly 3,000 such permits” for students to go back home in a one-time exemption from the curfew. At several other police stations, thousands more were “waiting for their turn to collect” such letters well past 6 pm.
After an entire day of chaos, neither prevented to urgently unattended to by the Telangana government or police, Director General of Police M. Mahendar Reddy “issued instructions” to all hostel and PG accommodation managements that any “evictions would be met with serious action” and “called on them to withdraw” any such moves.
This came for thousands of students, too late, after the city police, claiming to be under siege from homeless students, began issuing travel permission certificates to them instead of taking the back to their respective hostels.
A woman from Andhra Pradesh, who works in the city and lives in a hostel at Begumpet area, said, “This (lockdown) has come as a shock to us. Though our office had earlier informed us to work from home due to coronavirus (Covid-19) threat, the hostel management informed us only today to vacate the premises, owing to their incapability to serve us food and provide other amenities till the completion of lockdown.” Surprisingly, not one of the thousands of illegally evicted students considered calling the friendly Telangana police for protection to stay on in their hostels.
When asked further, the woman who was traveling on foot from Begumpet to Secunderabad, said, “we got information that police are giving some passes for people who want to travel to their native places today. I am
I work as a labourer in Hyderabad and stay in a private hostel. They shut down the hostel and told us to vacate. Some of them are students and some of us work in this city. We have been waiting here since 5 pm but there has been no mode of transport. I have to go to Kareemnagar. But there is no transport.
SATHISH KUMAR
going to North Zone DCP office to request and collect a pass. We are a group and have a car in which we want to go home.”
Though thousands were issued permits, it is unsure how they would make their way back to their native places, whether in Andhra Pradesh or in Telangana itself, since there is no public transport or private taxi service of any kind currently being permitted.
Later on, when then issue was brought to his notice, Mr K.T. Rama Rao tried to address the situation through a tweet, promising “hostel managements and PG accommodations all the support they require to keep the hostels and running smoothly”. He requested these managements not to evict anyone and “cause undesirable panic”.
The minister also called upon all elected representatives to “visit the hostels, along with officials” and convey the government’s commitment to helping them.
It did not help matters any with management of one hostel claiming that it received orders from the government that they have to cut off electricity and stop providing food following orders from the government.
The official release from the DGP’s office also referred to reports it received that managements of certain hostels were pressurising their renters to vacate their rooms despite the lockdown.
Since lock down is under implementation, no permission/NOC shall be granted for any movement of the people across the States till further orders in the overall interest of public health and public safety, the release said.
In another release, the Hyderabad city police commissioner said since hostel managements sought passes to get essential commodities for running the hostels, the police provided them with the same and following this, many students changed their plans and returned to their accommodations.