Andhra Pradesh   

Normal life disrupted by Khammam bandh

Staff reporter

Opposition parties protest police firing on CPI(M) activists

KHAMMAM: A bandh was observed in Khammam district on Tuesday in response to the call given by the CPI(M) to protest against the police firing on party workers at Bhadrachalam. Life came to a standstill in almost all the towns in the district on account of the bandh. Protest rallies, demonstrations and rasta roko marked the district-wide protest which remained more or less peaceful barring stray incidents.

Prohibitory orders were imposed under section 144 at the district headquarters town. CPI(M) workers, backed by the TDP, TRS and other political parties, forced closure of shops and establishments in the town. A RTC bus plying in the Khammam-Sathupalli route came under attack. The window glasses of the bus were smashed before the police reached the spot and dispersed the crowd.

Demonstration

Some of the CPI(M) leaders, including Bhadrachalam MLA Sunnam Rajaiah, were taken into custody in the morning as a precautionary measure. They were all let off in the evening. CPI(M) workers staged a demonstration in front of the RTC depot in Bhadrachalam. The situation continued to be tense in Bhadrachalam town because of the heavy presence of the police as well as CPI (M) workers. Some 24 members of the CPI(M) Bhadrachalam division committee, including division Secretary Bandaru Ravikumar, town secretary Kunja Dharma and Bhadhaachalam ZPTC member Gundu Sharat, arrested in connection with Monday's stone-throwing, were remanded to judicial custody. Superintendent of Police Rajiv Kumar Meena reviewed the situation along with the local officials.

In the meantime, CPI(M) district secretary Pothineni Sudarshan said that the bandh was total. All the Opposition parties, including the TDP and the TRS, extended support to the protest programme. The Collector ordered a magisterial enquiry into the police firing.

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