A tense situation prevailed at Mutyalammapalem village of Parawada mandal in the district on Monday as hundreds of policemen were deployed to prevent any untoward incident as fishermen displaced by the NTPC and Ramky were demanding provision of employment.
The agitating fishermen had laid a bund with sand bags to prevent entry of polluted water from the NTPC into the sea. The bund was removed by hired workers and a bulldozer on the orders of the RDO on Monday. A total of 15 fishermen were arrested by the police as they raised slogans to protest against the alleged indifference of the government towards their problems.
The heavy police deployment ensured that there was not much trouble during the removal of the sand bags.
Condemning the arrest, the CPI(M) district alleged that the government, instead of solving the problems of displaced fishermen at Mutyalammapalem, was resorting to repression using police.
In a statement here, district secretary Ch. Narsinga Rao said 700 policemen and officials surrounded the village and arrested the fishermen. He alleged that instead of amicably solving the problems, the administration was complicating them.
He said fishermen agitating over problems caused by the Pharma City and the NTPC were assured by the administration that they would be resolved in a month.
Mr. Narsinga Rao alleged that the Congress government had totally failed to solve the problems of those displaced by industries even as the private companies setting them up were given a string of incentives.
