Left parties were able to conduct a rally and public meeting against the government’s plans to go ahead with bauxite mining in the Agency area at Darakonda in G.K. Veedhi mandal in Visakha Agency on Wednesday in spite of restrictions imposed by the police. The leaders were stopped at several places en route to Darakonda and villagers were warned by the police, who are on full alert and more cautious after the Maoists kidnapped three Telugu Desam men in the same mandal, against attending the programme.
CPI State assistant secretary J.V. Satyanarayana Murthy went to Darakonda a day earlier and did not face problem. But party’s city secretary A.J. Stalin and CPI (M) district secretary K. Lokanadham were on Wednesday stopped at Narsipatnam, Chintapalli and G.K. Veedhi and were finally allowed to proceed to Darakonda after giving an undertaking that they were going to Darakonda on their own and were responsible for the consequences, Mr. Murthy said.
He also said that the special combing parties went to Darakonda and other villages on Tuesday night and warned villagers not to attend the meeting. Vehicles were not allowed to Darakonda and those travelling by bus were identified by their tickets and were forced to get down at G.K. Veedhi. But a large number of Girijans came by foot from long distances, along with their traditional arms and made the rally and public meeting a success, Mr. Murthy said.
The success of the meet indicated that the Girijans were against the bauxite mining, the CPI leader said. He criticised Telugu Desam for making a U-turn on the bauxite issue after strongly opposing mining while in the Opposition.
