Development is trickling into this interior village which was once a Naxalite bastion and native place of Maoist leader Muppala Laxman Rao alias Ganapathi alias Peddanna.
Gone are the days when government officials and police personnel dreaded to visit the village owing to the presence of Naxalites.
Now, thanks to the formation of new districts, it is the other way round. Bheerpur village, earlier part of Sarangapur mandal, has been made a mandal headquarters. Now, a visitor to this village is greeted by a police station, and offices of tahsildar and mandal educational officer. Besides, a good number of cellular phones are spotted in and around the village.
Ganapathi’s ancestral house in the village has turned into roofless ruin, overgrown with shrubs. On the other hand, the old houses of Ganapathi’s family members -- Muppala Muralidhar Rao, Sridhar Rao and others -- are now housing the police station and tahsildar’s office after they were repaired. Long ago, the relatives had migrated to Hyderabad and other places.
Locals welcomed the opening of the police station, and tahsildar’s office in their village. They said development of Bheerpur village into mandal headquarters would benefit 11 villages situated along the Godavari river. Earlier, the villagers had travelled more than 20 km to reach Sarangapur mandal headquarters.
A youth, Gajarla Ramesh, said the opening of police station had instilled confidence among local people. Now, the police could access their village in case of need and check crime rate.
“Quarrels among villagers over small issues have also come down due to the opening of the police station,” said MPTC member M Ramesh.
Bheerpur Sub-Inspector J Arogyam said there had been no crime since the opening of the police station. However, the police personnel were visiting villages and constituting village protection committees (grama rakshana committees) to check crime, he added.
Hotelier Babu said the setting up of the police station and other offices would develop the village on all fronts. “There would be a higher influx of people into the village and new infrastructure would come up in the district throwing it open to development, including creation of employment for locals,” he said.
