Members of a Dalit family questioned the action of police in removing boulders placed to prevent laying of road in Amblamogaru.
In a grievance redressal meeting at the Police Commissioner’s office, resident of the area Lakshman and his wife Nalini said they were against use of a portion of their land for laying the road. Hence, they had placed boulders to block laying of the road. A group of policemen led by Konaje Police Station Sub Inspector S.S. Meti came on February 28 and removed them. “He threatened of slap a case against us. He then took away the boulders that were meant for construction our house,” Ms. Nalini said.
She alleged the police acted in favour of local gram panchayat member, who wanted the road to pass through their land. The Sub Inspector did not bother to look into our objections. The police have not cared for the status quo order issued by Principal Civil Judge (Junior Division) Court.
Mr. Meti said he went with a team of policemen as members of 20 households complained against Mr. Lakshman and Ms. Nalini alleging they were blocking the laying of the road. Mr. Meti said the road was connecting the 20 houses and it was being laid by Belman Panchayat under the Pradan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. While the panchyat had laid 90 per cent of the road, the remaining portion passes through the 10 cents of land of Lakshman, he said. Denying allegations of threat, Mr. Meti said the action was as per law. He has asked Tahsildar for a report on the status of portion of the road passing through Lakshman’s property.
The sub-inspector said the boulders were removed on February 28, whereas the court issued the status quo order on March 1. The road work is stayed till the court decides the matter.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Traffic) D. Dharmaiah said he will ask Assistant Commissioner of Police T.R. Jagannath to look into allegations of threats by the Sub Inspector.
Another participant in the meeting, Sadashiv Urwastore, said absence of Superintendent of Police (Civil Rights Enforcement) for more than a year meant that there was no forum for people belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to present the problems of harassment meted out to them. To this, Mr. Dharmaiah said the problem will be brought to the notice of Additional Director General of Police (Civil Rights Enforcement).
