Hyderabad university students protest land grab, clash with police

India Today

Students at Hyderabad University are protesting against an alleged land grab by the Telangana government. They claim 400 acres have been auctioned and bulldozers are being used to clear the area.

Transcript

00:00Morning news in. Big Hyderabad students now on land grab, protest in Hyderabad University.

00:06Hyderabad University students versus cops is what's playing out. Students claim land

00:11takeover by the Telangana government. Cops crack down, detain the protesting students.

00:16400 acres have been auctioned is what is being claimed by students. Government using bulldozers

00:23used to grab our land. University says land doesn't belong to us.

00:54But the police have forcibly taken us away and this is not a detention also. They are

00:58not telling where they are taking us. There are 6 students here in this vehicle and they

01:04are taking us away and they are not even telling us to where they are taking us. They have

01:10already crossed the Gechibowli piers. This is clear kidnapping from the police. The students

01:15are here. And there are 3 girls in this vehicle. They have forcibly taken us. They have touched

01:22the girls without consent and this cannot be tolerated. I request everyone to reach

01:27this campus as soon as possible.

01:52Alright, getting in these details are from in fact Hyderabad University where there is

02:08a crackdown by the cops as you can see on your screens at this point in time. The students

02:14have been protesting talking about the fact that the land has been auctioned is what they

02:20are saying. Government is using bulldozers to grab land even as the cops crackdown on

02:25the protesting students. Big Hyderabad students stir on land grab. Protests on Hyderabad University

02:32where Hyderabad University students versus cops is what is playing out at this point

02:37in time. Students claim land takeover by the Telangana government. Cops crackdown detain

02:45the protesting students. 400 acres have been auctioned is what students are now claiming.

02:52I am going straight across to Apoorva for more on that. Apoorva break this down for

02:58us. What is this controversy about? Well, what we do know is that Hyderabad University

03:06there is roughly around 400 acres of land spread across the university area and what

03:13happened is that several students have been detained by the Hyderabad city police after

03:19they have protested against moving machines that were allegedly brought to clear a landing

03:27area in the Hyderabad University. Remember the entire university is surrounded by greenery,

03:33surrounded by nature. It is a kind of a biodiversity campus in itself. And with the heavy machinery

03:41that was brought in and the kind of raking of leaves and other shrubs and trees that

03:48were being made, several of the students had protested demanding why there was this land

03:56development plan that had been set up and why machinery was brought in to clear away

04:02the trees and the green forest kind of environment that had been there in Hyderabad University.

04:09Relating to this, what we do know is that Telangana government had made plans, developed

04:15the land and set up an IT pass there. That's the information that we are receiving. And

04:21this is yesterday, being a Sunday, there were a lot of students on the campus as well. And

04:26this is when they saw these heavy machineries being moved to this area and why they had

04:30protested demanding why this rich piece of soil was being filled up for a potential IT

04:40pass to be set up in place. And that's why the students are all protesting. And they

04:44also said that upon noticing the bulldozers that had come in, they had also raised slogans

04:51against the police and demanded with slogans asking them to go back. This kind of led into

04:56an altercation wherein several of the students were detained in these protests that they

05:02had picked up yesterday against the police and against the machineries being used in

05:11that area. And this protest has been ongoing so far and the Hyderabad University students

05:17do say that they will continue on with these protests if plans are not put to a halt.

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