Hyderabad, Saturday 26 December 2009: The indefinite fast undertaken by students at the Osmania University campus here in support of a separate Telangana, entered the third day on Saturday even as the varsity administration declared holidays, for all its constituent and affiliated colleges till January 5 next year.

In view of the ongoing agitation and owing to security concerns, the administration has decided to close the varsity from Saturday to January 5, 2010 and examinations to be held during this period have also been postponed, officials said adding revised schedule of exams will be displayed on the Osmania University website ‘www.osmania.ac.in’ on December 31.

About 17 pro-Telangana students had launched a fast-unto-death in front of the Arts College in the varsity campus on Thursday after the Centre backtracked on the statehood issue.

It was also decided to change the examination centre of UGC National Eligibility Test (NET) scheduled on December 27 at the University College of Arts and Social Sciences, to Professor G Ram Reddy Centre for Distance Education on the OU Campus, the varsity officials said.
Osmania University Vice-Chancellor T Tirupati Rao on Saturday visited the hunger camp where the agitating students have launched their fast-unto-death and asked them to express their protests in a peaceful and democratic manner and also to focus on maintaining their academic schedule.

Meanwhile, security has been enhanced at the Osmania University campus with deployment of additional forces apart from the existing forces drawn from RAF and other para-military personnel following attack on TDP leaders and its politburo member Nagam Janardhan Reddy by students and pro-Telangana activists on Thursday.
The JAC Students Association, however, denied involvement in the attack incident.

(PTI)