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| A policeman helping a vendor at Madannapet Mandi Market during curfew relaxation in Hyderabad-- Photo by A Suresh Kumar |
It was around
12.30 pm, Wednesday and 55-year-old Yadamma was hurriedly buying her
things - vegetables, rice and provisions - at the Madannapet market. It
was not just Yadamma, but the market was jampacked with hundreds of
people like her who rushed through their purchases on the sunny
afternoon. The time they had to buy all essentials, enough to last at
least a few days, as well as complete all the other work was just four
hours.The curfew-clamped Madannapet and Saidabad areas
came alive and saw a flurry of activity between 11 am and 3 pm when the
prohibitory orders were relaxed. In Yadamma’s case, her husband
Sriramulu has been suffering from high fever and she had to take him to a
doctor. She had kept him waiting in an autorickshaw outside the
market and had just 15 minutes to do all her purchases. In fact, she
thought it was a bandh call for Telangana. “Please stop continuous bandh
calls, sir. It badly affects our lives. My husband has been
running high temperature for the past two days but I was unable to take
him out for treatment. Even medical shops were closed in our locality. I
could move out only today,” she said talking to Express.The
official curfew relaxation time was 11 am, but people started pouring on
to the roads from 9.30 am itself. Business establishments opened their
shutters from 10 am. However, not all people were keen on purchases as a
good number of residents preferred to shift to their relatives and
friends’ homes in other parts of the city. “Ever since the curfew
was clamped in our locality, I had to simply sit at home doing nothing.
I am temporarily moving to my cousin’s house at Abids. I can attend my
office,” said KV Prasad, a private employee and a resident of Vikasnagar
of Madannapet.
2.15 pm: Scene Changes: As the curfew
relaxation period neared its end, there was a total change of scenario. A
fleet of police vehicles started patrolling the roads with
microphone-wielding police officials announcing loudly that the shops
and establishments should down their shutters as curfew would start
again. The announcement triggered a heightened activity once again,
which slowly died down leading once again to an eery silence and
deserted roads.The Task Force police and the APSP personnel led
by deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Manish Kumar Sinha closely
monitored the situation during the closing hours of the curfew
relaxation period. Around 2.45 pm, they closed the main road that leads
to the Chanchalguda prison and Saidabad.Meanwhile, the Special
Investigation Team (SIT) of the Central Crime Station (CCS) with the
assistance of Moghalpura police detained four persons who were involved
in stone throwing, damaging RTC buses and business establishments during
the communal violence. The suspects are being interrogated. They
are: Dhanraj, a resident of Kurmaguda who was allegedly involved in
stone throwing resulting in injuries to one Mohammed Ibrahim Khan at
Kurmaguda area; Mohammed Bin Ahmed, a football coach and Syed Nabi, both
resident of Sulthanshahi, Moghalpura, who allegedly trespassed into the
house of M Jagadamba and attacked her with a stone; and Mohammed Taher
alias Lambu, a resident of Kurmaguda, who was involved in stone throwing
incidents at Kurmaguada.
By Mouli Mareedu
moulimareedu@gmail.com
