Curfew will be relaxed for three hours in all the 25 police station limits in Hyderabad on Sunday following improvement of the situation in riot-hit areas. Curfew would be relaxed in two phases in South and West zones, Hyderabad City Police Commissioner A K Khan told mediapersons.
While curfew would be relaxed from 7 am to 10 am in Begumbazar, Afzalgunj, Mangalhat, Habeebnagar, Asifnagar, Shahinayatgunj, Kulsumpura and Tappachabutra police stations in West, Central and East zones while there would be three hours relaxation in the prohibitory orders from 10 am in the 17 other police station of South zone in Old City.
The police stations where curfew would be relaxed from 10 am to 1 pm are: Charminar, Shahalibanda, Hussainialam, Kamatipura, Bahadurpura, Kalapathar, Falankuma, Chatrinaka, Bhavaninagar, Dabeerpura, Moghalpura, Reinbazar, Madannapet, Santhoshnagar, Kanchanbagh, Chandrayangutta and Mirchowk.
"We will decide further relaxation of the curfew if the situation remain peaceful," Khan said. About 350 people were taken into custody so far in connection with communal clashes and 190 cases have been booked against culprits in Old City areas, he said.
Khan said there was lot of speculation and panic following circulation of some SMSes in the city. He appealed to people not to believe such "baseless rumours" and not to spread such baseless SMSes.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister K Rosaiah, who held a review meeting on the latest scene in the city areas, expressed satisfaction that the situation was fast improving and that there were no untoward incidents reported from any part of the city. He thanked all religious leaders and political parties for their cooperation in bringing back normalcy in the old city areas.
Rosaiah said Hyderabad was historically known for peace and communal harmony. "Hence it is our paramount duty to keep aloft the "Brand Hyderabad" name," he added. He appealed to people not to believe "any rumours" and baseless provocative SMSes. Two persons have been killed and over 90 sustained injuries in the clashes that began last Saturday over the issue of putting up religious flags. PTI
