Police use force to foil ryots’ padayatra
KHAMMAM: Police on Monday foiled a farmers’ padayatra from Ramannagudem village to Hyderabad to meet Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and demand pattas for 500 acres of podu lands. When the villagers began the padayatra from Ramannagudem, police obstructed them on the village outskirts, leading to a heated argument. Facing resistance from the agitators, police used force to disperse them.
Some villagers got injured in the melee. Police arrested the agitators and shifted them to Mulakalapalli and Kinnerasani police stations in two buses. Later, Congress leader Tati Venkateswarlu, along with other villagers, reached Mulakalapalli police station and blocked the main road in protest.
Joint Collector K Venkateswarlu reached the spot and assured them that the administration would try to solve their issues. “We are demanding that the government issue pattas for the 500 acres of land. Tribal have been cultivating the lands for decades. They possess old pattas. But the forest officials have been claiming the land and harassing the farmers,” Ramannagudem sarpanch Madakam Swarupa said.
Another issue being faced by the villagers was that the government acquired their lands for the construction of Ankamma tank canal construction a decade ago. They are yet to receive the compensation. “We have met the Collector and other officials many times and appealed to them to solve our issues, but in vain,” he said.