Chalo Assembly: Police lathi-charge agitating sarpanches

Vijayawada: Tension prevailed for some time near the Assembly premises as agitating sarpanches led by Sarpanches Association and Panchayat Raj Chamber tried to stage a protest seeking solution to their demands as part of their ‘Chalo Assembly’ programme.

The police not only thwarted the protesters’ attempts but in a highhanded act dragged them into buses and shifted them to various police stations. In the melee, some sarpanches sustained injuries. Though the police in a pre-emptive act resorted to checking of all vehicles heading towards the Assembly, the agitating sarpanches outwitted the police and reached the Assembly premises in vehicles of some MLAs and staged protest and shouted slogans. Taken aback by this, the police resorted to lathi-charge to control the protesting sarpanches.

The sarpanches alleged that the government had diverted the funds given by the Finance Commission meant for development of villages.

Earlier, the police arrested Panchayat Raj Chamber president YVB Rajendraprasad at Vuyyur and some leaders of the Sarpanches Association at Tulluru while they are proceeding towards the Assembly and shifted them to Tullur police station.

Meanwhile, BJP state president Daggubati Purandeswari condemned the arrest of sarpanches while they are agitating for release of funds for development of villages. She said the government’s action indicates the autocratic attitude of the YCP government. She said the government failed to pay the bills for completed works in villages. A woman sarpanch in Guntur district committed suicide due to debt trap as the government failed to release funds to clear the pending bills.

TDP MLA Gorantla Butchaiah Chowdary, while condemning the arrest of sarpanches, said that 96 per cent of MPTCs and ZPTCs are members of the YSR Congress and all of them came on to streets due to government inaction. He said no one knows what happened to the funds released by the Central government which the panchayats across the state have been requesting.

“The state government arrested the sarpcnahes while protesting for non-release of funds. No time has been allotted to the Opposition to speak in the Assembly and there is no respect for sarpanches in Jaganmohan Reddy’s regime,” he said, adding that the YCP government deployed 4,000 policemen from Tadepalli CM camp office to Assembly.