SIDDIPET: The sleepy fist-sized village of Gudatipalli on Monday woke up to foot-stomping sound of policemen, the inevitable lathi-charge, forcible detentions and women crying foul over the cruelty of police and the arrests.
The village, which will be submerged when Gouravelli reservoir is in place, is just 12 km from Husnabad in Siddipet district. The officials have been trying to evict the villagers so that they could go ahead with the project works.
As the first light of the day was about to appear, police stormed the village, stating that they were there to arrest Sarpanch Raji Reddy and others for allegedly obstructing the Gouravelli project’s survey work. They forced their way into the houses and took the youngsters away in police vehicles.
As there was no power supply at that time, it came in handy for the policemen to beat up the youth under the cover of darkness. They did not even spare women, leading to some of them sustaining injuries.
Finally, police forcibly took away about 100 youngsters along with the sarpanch to Rajakapet police station. As police teams left, the other villagers marched to Husnabad RDO office where they staged a protest.
When the villagers set out to the RDO office, police tried to stop them by parking JCBs in their way but the villagers did not back down. People from nearby villages also joined them in expression of solidarity. They staged the protest till 4 pm, though the scorching sun beat down on them violently. The protesting women told the media that it was police who switched off power supply to the village and barged into their houses. Oppn condemns police action
Angry villagers seek suspension of CI, RDO
As the villagers were protesting, Add’l Collector Srinivas Reddy arrived at the RDO office to pacify them. But the villagers demanded that the arrested youngsters be released immediately. The Sarpanch demanded the suspension of CI Raghu-pathy Reddy and RDO