Rajahmundry: Left parties organised rallies and rasta-roko on Tuesday, protesting against firing and caning of fishermen in Gangavaram on Monday in Vizag.

The CPI (ML-New Democracy), Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), took out a rally from Mao Bhavan and it passed through main streets of the city. The party workers held rasta-roko near Kambhalacheruvu park centre for about half-an-hour and traffic was disrupted due to the agitation.

Addressing workers, CPI (ML-New Democracy) leader K. Joshi said that the Congress Government is also going on the same lines, in which former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu acted against the interests of the poor. He compared firing on Left party workers in Basheerbagh in Hyderabad during TDP regime with the incident that took place in Gangavaram yesterday. He alleged that in the name of industrialisation, the Government is backing private people to construct port at Gangavaram at the cost of fishermen's lives. He said that the package announced by the Government to shift the fishermen should apply to all the villagers who are going to lose their livelihood. He demanded Rs.5 lakhs ex gratia to the family of the fishermen killed in the firing. He also asked the Government to stop works at the port until the issue is settled.

On the other hand, the CPI and CPI(M) also issued separate statements condemning the firing incident in Gangavaram. Meesala Satyanarayana, CPI district secretary in a statement on Tuesday said that police had acted cruelly towards fishermen and they provoked fishermen just before the firing. He demanded judicial enquiry into the incident instead of magisterial enquiry. CPI(M) district secretary Dadala Subba Rao in another statement condemned the police act and demanded withdrawal of police picket from Gangavaram.

Kakinada Correspondent writes: Workers of the CPI(M) led by Vasamsetti Suryarao, city party unit secretary, G.Baby Rani and M Veerababu, district committee members, staged rasta roko at the Ambedkar statue here on Tuesday evening denouncing the police action against the fishermen of Gangavaram port area paralysing the vehicular traffic on the Kakinada-Samalkot road for some time. They raised slogans demanding action against the police personnel responsible for the action. Later they dispersed peacefully at the intervention of the police

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