GUNTUR: The villagers living in Pinnelli, which was in news recently for clashes between the TDP and the YSRCP supporters following the 2019 general elections, were in for a surprise in the early hours of Saturday when they found the lathi wielding policemen had shunned their batons and in their khakis, with broomsticks in hand were working hard to clean up the village.
Not just the policemen, grama volunteers, revenue, panchayati department officials and other government employees were busy cleaning the village roads, removing silt from the drains, planting saplings as part of the Swachh Bharat programme.
They were 200 in number. Seeing the government officials, including the police taking up the work of keeping the village clean, many villagers joined them willingly.
For record, around 10,000 people live in Pinnelli at Machavaram Mandal in Guntur district.
The police officers had adopted this vulnerable village, where regular clashes between the supporters of the YSRCP and the TDP took place.
On occasions, the clashes were between the Muslims living in the village and members of other communities living alongside them. In order to put a brake on the clashes, the police, as per the directions of Guntur district rural SP R Jayalakshmi, adopted the village and monitored the situation round-the-clock.
With community policing policy being adopted, the police provided 10 fans to the primary school, Urdu school, ZP High School by collecting funds from donors.
They also donated 100 saplings, which the students planted under vanam manam programme. This apart, they undertook counseling of the villagers, who were prone to picking up fights in the village.
Sk Saida and Bujji, villagers living in Pinnelli said that they had never seen police taking part in social services leaving their lathis behind.
They said that they also participated in the activities ignoring differences among them and decided to stop quarrelling with each other.
They also decided to concentrate on the development of the village, with the support of the police. They said that some people of Pinnelli left the village fearing attacks, but the police had created a conducive atmosphere there, where one could live happily.
Machavaram SI M Lakshmi Narayana Reddy said that 58 police constables, 50 grama volunteers, Revenue, Panchayati department employees had taken part in the programme.
He said that the police were pursuing development activities, with the coordination of other government officials and the villagers.
The Deputy Superintendent of Police of Sattenapalli, R Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy, along with local police conducted the Swachh Bharat programme.
The DSP said that the village was adopted by Piduguralla rural CI Ch Rattaiah and the police were conducting interaction programmes there thrice a week to create awareness among the public about all round development of the village.
He said that the village was densely populated and to maintain peace there police were concentrating on motivating the villagers by conducting social activities.
He said that the people of Pinnelli were now living together peacefully, ignoring differences among them and the police were helping them to create a peaceful atmosphere.