HYDERABAD: Over two dozen Dalits from Manikonda village in adjoining Ranga Reddy district on Monday afternoon staged a dharna before the office of the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HUDA) protesting against the move to displace them from lands they had tilled for decades.

The agitators had come to the HUDA office under the leadership of the BJP national secretary Bandaru Dattatreya.

He said no Government could think of throwing people out of lands that they had been working on and living for over 50 years.

He said the act of officials asking the resident farmers to move out was illegal, especially when the matter was in court.

The aggrieved included two dozen small and marginal farmers holding an overall 32 acres and five individuals with considerable holdings totalling some 30 acres. After an hour of slogan-shouting on the main road opposite the Begumpet police station, they moved towards the offices of HUDA.

A 10-member delegation was allowed to meet the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Jayesh Ranjan.

They showed him papers pertaining to the decades-old legal battle for continued possession. Mr. Jayesh Ranjan said he would take a re-look at the case once he received copies of the review petition and other papers filed by the farmers and other stakeholders.

Ranga Reddy district BJP president S. Malla Reddy, vice-president Shankar Reddy and National Safai Karamchari Commission member Chinta Sambamurthy were present.

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