At the stroke of Sunday midnight, Hyderabad erupted in celebrations with music, dance, burst of firecrackers and colourful lights as Telangana became the 29th State of Indian Union.
Even as thundershowers and winds in the evening brought down the temperature and threatened to disrupt the massive preparations for the celebrations, thousands of people came out on the streets to participate in the festivities heralding the birth of Telangana State after six decades of struggle.
Fireworks by professionals from Mumbai lit up the city skyline for more than one hour. People, young and old, men and women, gathered at the Tank Bund on Hussain Sagar to witness the breathtaking fireworks and danced to the tunes of songs eulogising Telangana songs and music. The city was also decked up by Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation which repainted the road dividers, foothapths and facelifted traffic junctions and big parks.
Pink lights illuminated the arch on the Tank Bund adding colour and zing to the event. Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial at Gun Park opposite the State Assembly, Telangana Bhavan, the headquarters of Telangana Rashtra Samiti, Gandhi Bhavan and the headquarters of the Congress were among the landmarks which were illuminated with colourful lights. Banners, festoons and balloons painted the city pink, the official colour of the TRS. The party workers also put the huge cutouts of party president and Chief Minister-in-waiting K Chandrasekhar Rao. Hyderabad’s Osmania University Campus, which was the nerve centre of Telangana movement by the students, also witnessed revelry starting at midnight and was expected to continue till morning.
Telangana Joint Action Committee, an umbrella of hundreds of organisations of professionals and various sections of society also organised its own celebrations. large crowds were also gathered at the Martyrs’ Memorial and various other places in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad to celebrate the occasion. Prominent folk artistes and singers were performing to regale the crowds. Vandem-ataram Srinivas, Andhesri and mimicry artiste Srinivas and many film celebrities from Telangana region were also among those who performed at the Tank Bund programme.
Meanwhile a full-dress rehearsal of Monday’s Telangana Formation Day parade was also conducted by the police authorities at the Secunderabad Parade Grounds. Mock parade included taking the Chief Minister-designate to Telangana Martyrs’ Memorial for laying wreath before accompanying him to Raj Bhavan for taking oath. later his entourage, accompanied by the pilots on motorcycles and mounted police went to the Parade Ground where contingents of the State police, armed reserves and other units participated in the parade.