Left parties protest against hike in water charges

Police arrest protesters at the municipal corporation office

Leaders and activists of Left parties being arrested during a protest against hike in water charges in front of Municipal Commissioner’s chamber in Vijayawada on Wednesday. Photo: V. Raju

A day after the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) steeply hiked the water charges, the Left parties stormed the Municipal Commissioner’s chamber here on Wednesday.

The leaders and workers of Left parties – CPI and CPI(M)-- squatted in the corridor in front of the Commissioner’s chamber on Wednesday demanding the Commissioner’s explanation on the rationale behind the water tariff revision. They raised slogans asking the corporation to roll back the hike immediately.

The police reached the spot only after the resentment by the workers went out of control, leading to utter chaos. The protestors resisted the police attempts to evict them from the corridors of corporation. Subsequently, the police dragged the Left party workers to the ground floor. Later, they were bundled into vans.

‘Steep increase’

There was a bandobust near the VMC office, but the police could not sniff the Left parties’ plans to storm the Commissioner’s chamber. The leaders reached the spot one by one without leaving any clue to the police standing at the entrance.

CPI(M) city secretary Ch. Babu Rao said that the tariff revision was steep. The charges were increased between 40 per cent and 400 per cent.

Under the Special Officer rule, the State government was burdening the people on one plea or the other.

CPI city secretary Donepudi Sankar said that Municipal Commissioner G. S. Panda Das was behaving like an agent of Congress government, and levied a burden of Rs.18 crore on the people.