HYDERABAD: Tension prevailed in Lagcherla in Dudyal mandal in Vikarabad district on Monday, when some persons went on a rampage and attacked Vikarabad Collector Prateek Jain and Kodangal Urban Development Authority (KUDA) Special Officer and Deputy Collector K Venkat Reddy, when they went to hold a public hearing on the proposed pharma unit.
As the public hearing venue was outside the village, some farmers boycotted it with a demand that the programme be held in the village. When the district collector and revenue officials reached the farmers in the village to convince them to attend the meeting, a large number of people who gathered there attacked the cars of the officials. They chased the officials, pelted stones and attacked the officials with sticks. Three cars of the officials were damaged in the melee.
While a woman farmer reportedly tried to slap the collector, the mob beat up Venkat Reddy with fists and sticks, raising slogans against the proposed pharma unit.
Vikarabad Collectorate employees stage ‘pen down’
Protesting against the attack on the collector and his team, the Vikarabad district officials staged a pen down strike in the afternoon.
However, the collector pacified them and clarified that though the farmers were willing to speak to the officials, a group of people came and created trouble. “It is not an attack. Some fellows conspired to create disturbance. I am working today. You too join duties,” the told the officials.
The police registered cases against the villagers for assaulting revenue and police officials and rioting.
The state government has proposed to start pharma units in Dudyal mandal and needs 1,350 acres of land for the purpose. Since only 156 acres of government land is available, the authorities are trying to acquire the remaining land from farmers in Hakimpet, Polepally and Lagcherla in Dudyal mandal, which is located in Kodangal Assembly segment being represented by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. The main crop in the segment is paddy, which will be cultivated in around 65,000 acres.
The farmers who are opposing the acquisition of land for the pharma units had recently met BRS working president KT Rama Rao. Meanwhile, Telangana Employees Joint Action Committee chairman V Lacchi Reddy and others condemned the attack on the revenue officials. Telangana Gazetted Officers Association president Eluri Srinivasa Rao, general secretary A Satyanarayana, associate president B Shyam condemned the attack. They said that resorting to violence was unacceptable and wanted the government to take stringent action against the culprits.
In a post on X, KT Rama Rao asked the chief minister: “Revanth.. do you have the guts to go to Dudyala Mandal of your own district without security? Why are you making officials scapegoats for your deeds?”
BRS leader and former minister T Harish Rao alleged that the IAS officers and other government employees were facing the wrath of the people, due to the inefficient rule of Revanth Reddy. He recalled that already 15,000 acres were acquired for the proposed Hyderabad Pharma City by the BRS government. But the Revanth government shelved the project and is trying to acquire fertile lands of farmers in Dudyal.