Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Girijans living in fear: CPI

VISAKHAPATNAM: District council of CPI demanded the government to distribute the coffee plantations in Balapam Panchayat in Chintapalli mandal to the Girijans who have been raising them for the last many years.

It also alleged that people of 33 villages under the panchayat were living under fear since the Cheruvuru encounter that took place during mid-December last year as they were being harassed by the police.

Cases had been filed against 86 persons and due to the harassment by the police, the villagers were scared to come out of their villages, alleged district secretary of CPI J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy at a press conference here on Friday.

City secretary Ch. Raghavendra Rao and secretary of AP Rythu Sangham's district unit G. Ramagopal were also present.

The villagers occupied the coffee plantations and collected the fruits during November but the police were saying they were looking for the people who had damaged the staff quarters of the AP Forest Development Corporation near Korukonda village during December, Mr. Murthy said.

Superintendent of Police, when approached by the CPI leaders said that there were no cases regarding occupation of the coffee plantations but the police were looking for the people who had participated in the activities of the Maoists.

Mr. Murthy said that the police wanted an undertaking from the Girijans that they would not participate in the Maoists' activities.

He also wanted the Government to take over the private coffee estates in Chintapalli mandal, continued to be with the non-Girijans in violation of the 1/70 Regulation, and distribute them to the Girijans.

The CPI would launch an agitation if the Government failed to hand over the coffee plantations to the Girijans and also till all the vacancies of medical officers in the Visakha Agency area were filled up.

The Government was not sincere in implementing programmes for the Girijans and the Tribal Welfare Minister P. Balaraju, who hails from the Visakha Agency, cared little for the Girijans, he said. Not appointing a full-time Project Officer for the ITDA at Paderu for the last many months was the best example of the indifference of the Government and Mr. Balaraju, Mr. Murthy said.

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