ANANTAPUR: Tension prevailed at Utukur village in Parigi mandal in the district on Monday when police tried to disrupt a meeting organised by villagers with the help of CPM protesting the construction of a factory in the village tank lands. Taking exception to the police highhandedness, some villagers threatened to self-immolate themselves and burnt the effigy of MLA BK Parthasarathy. Heated arguments took place between the protesting villagers and the police.
With the situation slipping out of hand, the police took some villagers into custody and shifted them to the police station. When other villagers came to know of it, they marched to the factory site to protest and were stopped by the police there. Some youths among the villagers tried to climb electric poles to threaten to commit suicide, but were stopped by the police, who used mild lathi charge to disperse them from the place. Villagers said that as per rules, Tank Poramboku should not be allocated to any purpose, but the government has allocated the same to a factory. Meanwhile, the Congress supported the villagers’ demand and said any factory or project should be set up only with the assent of the local people.
Meanwhile, CPI and CPM condemned the police lathi-charge on farmers in Parigi mandal. In a press release, CPI and CPM State secretaries K Ramakrishna and P Madhu said the factory, which is an ancillary unit of Kia Automobiles, has been allocated 26 acres of land in violation of the laws of the land.
They said if the factory was constructed, the water supply to the village tank will be hindered and the villagers of Utukur have been opposing the same for several months. Today, when they were holding a peaceful meeting, police behaved in a highhanded manner with them and even caned the women participated in the protest, the Left party leaders said.