Political activists and members of farmers’ associations who wanted to pay tributes to British engineer Sir Arthur Cotton were given a tough time by the police on Friday.
The bronze statue of Arthur Cotton, who had built anicuts across the Krishna and the Godavari, bringing prosperity to farmers of the area, is located in the Irrigation Department Compound that has been declared a ‘high security zone’ after it has been decided that the Chief Minister’s camp office would be located in it.
The police kept leaders of the Congress, including former Minister Devineni Rajasekhar, waiting though DCC president K. Butchibabu secured permission from both the Police Commissioner and Irrigation SE in writing.
The leaders, accompanied by several activists, paid floral tributes to the bronze statue and sat in silent protest against what they called the government’s attempt to deceive people by taking up “wasteful” projects such as Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme.
Former Drainage Board member and president of Rytanga Samakhya Y. Nagendranath and YSRC Farmer’s Wing convener M.V.S. Nagireddy too had to wait before they were allowed to pay tributes at the statue. Irrigation Department officials were, however, allowed to pay tributes without any hassle.
