Villagers from 13 villages in Nalgonda district opposed the government’s move to allot land for mining purposes during an environmental public hearing conducted at Mellacheruvu here, on Wednesday.
Explaining their objections during the hearing, S. Saidi Reddy, a local who undertook a six-day hunger fast recently to oppose the allotment to mining, said the groundwater in the locality was already polluted due to the operation of cement companies. Stating that the existing cement companies including ‘My Home Cements’ had violated environmental guidelines, Mr. Reddy said that the violations had cost them dearly as many people were suffering from various ailments and agriculture production had also plummeted.
Another youth, Sudhakar Reddy, said that repeated complaints over the violations and release of harmful effluents to the district administration and Pollution Control Board had fallen on deaf ears.
While Mr. Sudhakar Reddy was speaking, another youth, G. Shankar, attempted suicide by dousing himself with kerosene, but the police and other villagers stopped him from setting himself on fire by taking away the matchbox.
The incident created chaos at the meeting place as the villagers ransacked the chairs and tried to proceed towards the dais by gatecrashing the barricades, but the police prevented them and took them into custody. Later, some of the others staged a protest as the police prevented them from entering the meeting place but they were also taken into custody, albeit released later.
The General Manager of ‘My Home Cements’, Jaganadha Rao, took away the mic from a youth forcibly while he was speaking against the land allotment during the hearing.
Another villager, P.Venkataiah, said the district administration, police and Pollution Control Board officials had colluded with the cement company management to prevent them from airing their resentment. He also accused the officials saying that they had allowed the cement company people, who had arrived to at the place posing as villagers to speak during the hearing but denied the actual villagers an opportunity to speak.
District Revenue Officer P. Niranjan, Revenue Divisional Officer, Suryapet, R. Srinivas Reddy, and others were present.
