Tension prevailed at Utnoor when a group of adivasis and another from Lambada tribe came close to attacking each other near at the Integrated Tribal Development Agency office on Wednesday. The sloganeering groups armed with sticks came face to face but timely intervention of police averted any unpleasant incident.
The incident took place while about 25 teachers belonging to Lambada tribe were demonstrating under the aegis of Lambada Employees Association in front of the ITDA office demanding action against the villagers of Marlavai in Jainoor mandal of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district who had prevented Lambada teachers from attending duties the previous day. According to eye witnesses the protest would have passed off peacefully but for the kind of slogans which were raised when the teachers came to the protest venue in a rally.
The slogans are said to have incited the adivasi students who study in various educational institutions at Utnoor. They too arrived at the ITDA office raising slogans which were equally objectionable, observers said. The ruckus created tension at the place and traffic on the Utnoor-Jannaram road came to a standstill for over an hour.
Adilabad Superintendent of Police, who rushed to Utnoor with police contingents, brought the situation under control. Karimnagar Range DIG C. Ravi Verma also arrived at the spot to monitor the situation.
Wednesday’s incident is a sequel to those which had taken place in the recent past. The simmering discontent saw Marlavai villagers, all Raj Gond adivasis preventing the Lambada teachers from attending duties alleging that they neglected students belonging to aboriginal tribes and came for duty late.
Earlier, the ethnic people had conducted a protest march from Indervelli to Utnoor demanding removal of Lambadas from the list of Scheduled Tribes. They had also conducted a rally at Asifabad town last month with the same demand.
