Hyderabad: TJAC chairman M. Kodandaram on Monday set May 14 as the deadline for the TRS government to reopen Dharna Chowk at Indira Park in Hyderabad.
If that is not done, TJAC, Left parties and other organisations will stage a protest at Dharna Chowk the next day, defying ban orders. Prof. Kodandaram warned the government that if it failed to reopen the Chowk, he would mobilise all sections of the society and intensify the agitation.
“People have the right to protest and the place had been earmarked for demonstrations a long time ago. Why should the government close it now? Dharna Chowk provided life to the Telangana movement. It’s highly unjustified to close it now,” Prof. Kodandaram told a roundtable conference at Sangareddy, 50 km from here.
Describing the move as ‘anti-people’, he said that every right thinking person would condemn the decision. “We will save Dharna Chowk at any cost,” he said.
Later, speaking to DC, he said that the TJAC submitted memoranda to all the district collectors in the state seeking reopening of Dharna Chowk before May 14.
Meanwhile, the Left parties, led by the CPI, met in-charge Hyderabad collector Prashanti and submitted a memorandum demanding reopening of Dharna Chowk at Indira Park.
“Parties, organisations and public at large are unable to air their problems due to closure of Dharna Chowk. For over a decade all sections of people had utilised Dharna Chowk. In the past, there used to dharnas in front of Assembly, Secretariat, MLAs quarters but subsequently government in undivided AP moved the venue to Dharna Chowk. Lakhs of people utilised it,” the memorandum said, adding that the government restore Dharna Chowk immediately or face action.
