Land Survey Over For Tisco Plant
The three week exercise was marked by an escalation in tension in the area as the local people opposed to their eviction on account of the project repeatedly clashed with the officials and the police personnel accompanying them in their attempt to block the latter's entry into various villages.
The villagers, particularly the women and children, had sought to deter the progress of the survey team into their respective villages by squatting on the approach roads and putting up barricades at various points. The police on many occasions had to resort to lathicharge and bursting of tear gas shells to disperse the crowd who also frequently gheraoed the survey team and pelted stones at the security personnel in retaliation.
In the skirmishes, over a hundred villagers and nearly a dozen policemen and magistrates are said to have been injured during the whole operation. The villages where the situation was particularly tense included Badaputi, Sriramchandrapur, Chamakahndi and Kalipalli.
The police also arrested N Bhanumati, the wife of the chairman of .... Gana Sangram Samiti, spearheading the campaign against the project in the area during he operation on charges of fomenting tension and obstructing official in discharge of their duty. Her husband, Narayan Reddy, was arrested under the provisions of National Security Act (NSA) earlier.
Meanwhile, the state unit of CPI, which has a strong presence in the proposed site of the Tisco plant, has strongly condemned the police action on the villagers and demanded action against the district administration officials for letting loose a reign of terror in the area. The police, on the other hand, claimed that they maintained utmost restraint in dealing with the situation. Otherwise, our men would not have sustained injuries, pointed out a senior official here, adding, had the police retaliated under such provocation, the situation could have become really explosive by now.
Sources said the officials are now calculating the compensation to be paid to the affected families.