SIDDIPET:While the Nation celebrated Sankranti on Sunday, for the villagers of Vemulawada it was another day of struggle, albeit a tough one at that. As the villagers sat on their relay hunger strike on Sunday morning, one that has been going on for a long while now, around 15 postal department employees reached the village serving notices. This, on a Sunday, when the department is officially closed.
The event can very well be termed as the latest attempt of officials to put pressure on villagers. Regarding the Sunday incident, oustees asked the postal staff how could they serve notices on a holiday. To this, the postal staff replied that they had orders from higher ups for the same.But the villagers stood their ground and demanded the postal staff to show them the orders that they had received regarding serving the notices. The staff left after this.
However, on Tuesday they returned to the village to serve the notices in which the oustees had been asked to come to the Siddipet RDO office on January 23 to collect the details pertaining to the grama sabha held last November. Oustees were asked to collect the information they had sought, and replies to their objections. On contacting, officials concerned said they had issued as many as 4,000 notices in Vemulaghat village.
Pressure tactic
G Tirupathi, a Vemulaghat villager, says the notices are pressure tactics on part of the officials. He claimed that the officials had pressured the postal department staff to serve notices to villagers on a holiday. “Why are officials adopting such an attitude towards our village? Was it so urgent that the notices were served on a Sunday?”he questioned. Tirupathi also accused the government of intentionally trying to provoke the villagers so that they end up attacking the government employees. “If such attacks take place in the village, the government will show law and order problem and file cases against the villagers,” he said and added that they would not lose their cool, come what may.
The villagers have twice earlier signed memorandum and submitted it to the collector. In their memorandum they had mentioned that Mallanna Sagar land acquisition officials were violating the law and putting farmers as well as the government at loss.