MRPS activists burn three coaches of a train

Hyderabad, May 19 (UNI) As the indefinite fast of Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti (MRPS) founder-president Manda Krishna Madiga entered the third day today, his followers burnt three coaches of a shuttle train at Kazipet in Warangal district late last night.

The train between Warangal and Secunderabad was usually kept at Kazipet station at around 2230 hrs every day for cleaning and other maintenance work as it would have to leave for Secunderabad at 0500 hrs.

As the railway personnel were engaged in maintenance work, MRPS workers poured petrol on the last three bogies of the train and set them on fire. Before fire tenders could reach the spot, all the six bogies of the train got totally burnt.

Today MRPS activists set fire to two buses in Kurnool and Nizamabad districts. They have been targetting government offices, vehicles and APSRTC buses. They also burnt an MRO office and valuable records.

Mr Krishna, who is on indefinite hunger strike demanding categorisation of the Scheduled Castes, wanted to launch his strike outside the official residence of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy in Begumpet on Thursday last.

But he was arrested by the police at his Parsigutta office as he was leaving for the Chief Minister's office and was later shifted to the Gandhi Hospital due to low blood pressure. After being discharged from the hospital, Krishna Madiga started his hunger strike at his residence itself.

The contention of the MRPS was that the opportunities provided for the SCs were being snatched away by the ''Malas'', a dominant sub-sect of the SCs, depriving justice to Madigas. They wanted division of the SCs into four categories and reservations as per the population of each sect.

UNI