Political parties in the new State of Telangana, mainly the Left, have recorded a strong protest against the passage of a Bill in the Lok Sabha to transfer 205 villages in the submergence zone of the Polavaram project to Andhra Pradesh.
The Left parties >organised a bandh in the State on Saturday, crippling normal life.
The transfer of 324 revenue villages, including 545 habitations with an estimated 1.89 lakh people, of Khammam district for hassle-free construction of the Polavaram project is poised to reduce the tribal sub-plan (TSP) area drastically.
The Bhadrachalam Agency, with a population of over 5.61 lakh spread across a vast area of 12,175 sq.km in 29 TSP mandals, will undergo extensive changes in its geographical area and demographic profile.
The composition of three Assembly constituencies reserved for the Scheduled Tribes too will drastically change. The merger of seven TSP mandals — V.R. Puram, Kunavaram, Chintur, Velerupadu, Kukunoor, Bhadrachalam (excluding the revenue village of Bhadrachalam) and Burgumpadu (barring 12 revenue villages) — with Andhra Pradesh will alter the demographic composition of the Agency.
The Telangana bandh was peaceful, but caused inconvenience to people. Passengers were stranded as State Road Transport Corporation buses remained in the depots.
The bus stations in all 10 districts of Telangana wore a deserted look. The leaders of the Communist Party of India (CPI), the CPI(M), the CPI(ML-New Democracy), the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the Telangana joint action committee staged demonstrations at RTC crossroads.
