4-hour flurry of activity in curfew-bound areas

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