Andhra Pradesh - Srikakulam   

CPI activists stage dharna

Special Correspondent

Protest as part of the land struggle

Srikakulam: In response to the call given by the State unit, activists of the district unit of the CPI, led by its secretary Sundarlal, staged a dharna at the Collectorate here on Thursday.

Among other things, they were seeking land and house sites to the poor. Expressing solidarity, leaders of the CPI(M), led by district unit secretary Choudary Tejeswara Rao, took part in the protest programme.

Addressing the protesters, G. Demudu, Chintapalli MLA, criticised Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy for not implementing the promises he had made to people as an Opposition leader.

Filling up backlog posts reserved for SCs, STs and BCs, abolition of contract appointments were examples, he said. Terming the housing programme of the government farce, he said with escalating prices of cement, iron, etc. no poor man could construct a house

VIZIANAGARAM: Police took P. Kameswara Rao, CPI district secretary, and other leaders into custody when they, along with a large number of people, blocked traffic at the Collectorate junction, seeking an assurance from the Collector on their demand for land and house-sites distribution on Thursday.

The district unit mobilised people from other mandals. Braving the heavy rain, they staged the dharna. Party State Secretariat member V.V. Rama Rao, who participated, criticised the government for allotting hundreds of acres to the rich and ignoring the just demand of the poor. He said the struggle for land was launched due to the government’s failure to implement its promise.

After Mr. Rama Rao left the place, Mr. Kameswara Rao and other senior leaders – B. Suri Babu, V. Krishnam Raju, A. Appala Naidu and others took permission from the police to submit a memorandum to Collector B. Kishore.

The Collector did not come out to receive the memorandum. Irked by the Collector’s stance, they organised a road blockade for over 30 minutes and raised slogans. The police swung into action and took them into custody.

Kakinada: Over 500 CPI workers led by K. Subba Raju, former MLA and State CPI executive member, M. Satyanarayana and T. Madhu, secretaries of district and city units of the party respectively, were arrested when they tried to gatecrash the Collectorate. Among those arrested included CPI(M) district secretary D. Subba Rao, who joined the protest to express his party’s solidarity.

Earlier, CPI workers staged a protest demonstration, raising slogans seeking distribution of Banjar lands, ceiling lands and Bhoodan lands to the poor. They were also seeking implementation of the Koneru Ranga Rao Commission recommendations duly incorporating the amendments suggested by the Left parties within six months, withdrawal of all cases registered against party workers in connection with the land struggle and providing protection to poor tenant farmers of the endowment lands.

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