Police permits Seemandhra govt employees to hold meeting

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Police on Tuesday night gave its nod to Andhra Pradesh Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association (APNGOA) to hold its proposed ‘Save AP meeting’ on 7 September at the LB Stadium, even as it denied permission to Telangana Students’ Joint Action Committee to take out a rally on the same day. APNGOA was granted a conditional permission to hold its meeting from 2 pm to 5 pm and government employees from Seemandhra region would be allowed for the meeting only after showing their identity cards, since outsiders won’t not be permitted to attend the meeting, the police said. [caption id=“attachment_1083559” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Government employees protest the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh. AFP[/caption] “Permission for APNGOA’s meeting was given because it is a meeting being organised by state government employees,” a police officer said. However, the Telangana Students’ Joint Action Committee (TSJAC), which had given a call for a second “million man march” to oppose the public meeting called by Seemandhra protesters at the LB Stadium on 7 September, was denied permission to hold its rally as the police said that rallies were already banned due to an extension of prohibitory orders in the city, for a week from Wednesday. The TSJAC’s proposed march was to begin in front of the LB Stadium and pass through the Nizam’s College, Basheerbagh to Tank Bund on 7 September. Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma, who issued prohibitory orders on Tuesday said that public meetings, processions and people gathering on roads or public places have been prohibited to maintain public order, peace and tranquillity in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Prohibitory orders will be with effect from 6 am on 4 September until 6 am on 10 September. Earlier, the APNGOA, Samaikhyandhra groups and the TSJAC had sought permission from the Central Zone Police for their respective protests. On Tuesday, APNGOA president P Ashok Babu had said that his organisation had constituted a co-ordination committee to make arrangements for the proposed meeting and assured that the meeting would be held peacefully. As per prohibitory orders, carrying swords, spears, knives, sticks with or without flags, bludgeons, guns, explosives and other offensive weapons has been banned, besides collection and carrying of stones or other means of casting missiles. PTI