TBJP team with Gouravelli oustees meets Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan

Hyderabad: The Telangana BJP on Wednesday stepped up its ante against the State government alleging police highhandedness on the Gouravelli project oustees. A delegation led by State BJP chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar, along with the Gouravelli project oustees from Gudatipally village who suffered in a wee-hours police lathi-charge met the State Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan and submitted a memorandum seeking action against the police officials who resorted to lathi-charge on the project displaced population and demanded immediate disbursal of the compensation to the project-affected people under suitable Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) package.

The BJP delegation in its memorandum to State Governor said that police had resorted to indiscriminate lathi-charge on the land evacuees of Gouravelli-Gandipalle project in Husnabad assembly constituency in Siddipet district after midnight of June 13."More than 500 police personnel swooped on Gudatipalli village at around 3 am, disconnected the power supply, barged into the houses of the evacuees, pulled them out and resorted to lathi-charge indiscriminately," they alleged.

The police roughed up the people without sparing even children, women and old people, and did not follow even the basic norm of deploying women police while arresting women. Many villagers were injured in the police attack and several women had fallen unconscious.

On the following day June 14, when the villagers were staging a silent and peaceful protest, the police instigated the Telangana Rashtra Samithi workers against them. Instead of coming to the rescue of peaceful protestors, the police caned them again, injuring many of them.

The delegation briefed the Governor that the only crime committed by the villagers was to ask for an R&R package as per law. The villagers made it clear to the government that they were not against the project and that all that they wanted was proper compensation. However, the police did not heed their appeal and assaulted them indiscriminately. Further, the Governor was told that the State High Court directed that the trial run of the project should be taken up only after implementing the R&R package for the land evacuees. Even the National Green Tribunal granted a stay on the project's works.

Yet, the government is conspiring to get the villages vacated using brutal police forces and intimidating the evacuees with lathi-charges, without bothering to pay the rightful compensation.

More than 1,000 evacuees have been fighting for justice for several years. In the meantime, some of the minors have grown into majors and became eligible for compensation. Even the old people have not got their R&R package. Many issues of land evacuation still remain unresolved.

Against the backdrop, the delegation asked the Governor to direct the State DGP to identify the police officials indulged in the lathi-charge on the project oustees of the Gouravelli project and take appropriate actions against them. Also, direct the State government to grant R&R package due to the project affected people, and take steps for the early completion of the Gouravelli-Gandipali project.

BJP MP Soyam Babu ao, former Telangana State Legislative Council Chairman Swamy Goud, and former MLC N Ramachander Rao were among those meeting the Governor.

Meanwhile, a petition has also been filed before the Telangana State Human Rights Commission by the project-affected people demanding an R&R package. In the petition, they explained how police in a predawn lathi-charge indiscriminately beat the villagers and demanded justice.