APBCWA condemns boycott of washermen

Ongole: The discrimination towards fellow human beings was unacceptable, said Goli Tirupati Rao, president of the Prakasam district unit of Andhra Pradesh Backward Castes Welfare Association. Speaking to the media here on Friday, Tirupati Rao condemned the social boycott of washermen community in Sivavaram village of Avuku Mandal in Kurnool district and demanded justice for the victims.

He said that the washermen in the Sivavaram village asked the village elders to pay wages for washing their clothes throughout the year, but the latter rejected their request. He said that on May 7, the village elders have announced a social boycott of the washermen families in the village.

They canvassed in the village that no person would sell milk, groceries to the washermen families. He further said instruction were given even not to allow to fill the drinking water in the pots in the village and their animals will not roam in the fields of the other caste people, he explained.

Sharing another incident that took place in Kondavuru village of Vajrapukotturu Mandal in Srikakulam district, he said some villagers have occupied the burial ground of the washermen and the last rites of a man were forced to perform on a roadside recently. He called these incidents are barbaric and asked the upper caste people in their villages to be ashamed of their actions.

He demanded the government to take immediate action against the accused who were involved in such inhuman activities and prosecute them. He announced that the AP BC Welfare Association will extend support to the washermen community and stand by them.

The district general secretary Balagani Anjaneyulu, official spokesperson of the association Bandaru Swamyraju, Dr. K Obuleshu, Pendyala Narayana, Chintaguntla Ramanamma, and others also participated in the programme.