The Opposition parties have announced their resolve to continue their united struggle against the police atrocities unleashed on people, Dalits in particular, in Rajanna-Sircilla district.
To begin with, a delegation of the Opposition parties would meet Director General of Police Anurag Sharma and submit representation on the Nerella incident. A complaint would be registered against the police officials concerned for not registering the FIR under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act immediately after the victims lodged a complaint with the Deputy Superintendent of Police.
An all party delegation would also call on Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan and submit a representation on the “anti-Dalit” actions of the State Government. This would be followed by a photo exhibition highlighting the situation in Nerella and demonstration near Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s statue at Tank Bund in protest against the rising atrocities on Dalits under the present dispensation.
Decisions to this effect were taken at a round table meeting organised here on Thursday. The meeting was attended among others by TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy, TDP-TS working president A. Revanth Reddy and Telangana Joint Action Committee chairman M. Kodandaram.
Mr. Uttam Kumar Reddy said it was decided to meet President Ramnath Kovind on August 21 or 22 to submit representation on the anti-Dalit and anti-weaker section attitude of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao-led Government. Similar complaints would also be filed with the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for SCs/STs.
Padayatra to Sircilla
The opposition parties would conduct padayatra to Sircilla that would be followed by a public meeting if the Government failed to initiate action into the issue in the interests of the victims. He criticised the Chief Minister for the latter’s highly objectionable remarks against former Speaker of Lok Sabha Meira Kumar reminding that Ms. Meira Kumar played a key role in the passage of Bill on separate Telangana.
Action was not initiated against those responsible for the Nerella incident as people close to the Chief Minister’s family were involved, Mr. Revanth Reddy said. He demanded that the victims be paid a compensation of ₹ 10 lakh each and provided a job. Professor Kodandaram expressed concern over the prevalence of sand mafia in Sircilla district and this resulted in the death of several people in road accidents due to illegal movement of vehicles in the area.
TPCC working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, BJP’s Chinta Samba Murthy, B. Mallesh of CPI (M) and others also spoke.
