Hyderabad: Condemning the government for denying permission to hold a ‘Chalo Sircilla’ rally and a public meeting in the town on July 31, PCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said the party had moved court on the matter.
The party had given the call for the agitation to protest against the alleged illegal confinement and torture of Dalits and BCs in Nerella village in the district by the police. UPA Presidential candidate and former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is scheduled to participate in the rally.
Speaking to mediapersons at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday, Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy said though the Congress had applied for permission a week ago, the police rejected the application on Friday night and this was informed to the party on Saturday.
“This was done at the instance of the Chief Minister's Office,” he alleged and added that the Congress had already moved a house motion in the High Court seeking permission to hold the meeting.
He said the police had rejected permission stating that the Government Junior College ground could be used to hold political meetings.
This was ridiculous, Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy said, since several meetings had been held on the ground earlier, including by Mrs Indira Gandhi, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
He alleged that the government did not want the Opposition to expose its misdeeds especially on issues like sand mafia that is rampant in the state.
Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy also demanded that the government pay fair compensation to the farmers of villages that were facing submergence under the proposed Uddandapur reservoir, a part of the Palamur Ranga Reddy lift irrigation scheme. He said 6,000 acres would be acquired for the project.
He said the government was offering Rs 6 lakh per acre while in the nearby Pochampally SEZ, the government had sold plots at Rs 50 lakh each a few years ago. Mr Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the government instead of following the Central 2013 land acquisition Act was resorting to GO 123 and acting like a middleman to forcibly acquiring land from farmers for a scheme that had not got approval from the Union water resources ministry.
