Police have taken control of nine revenue panchayats where the Bhogapuram international airport is proposed to be built even as YSR Congress (YSRC) leaders prepared for a tour of the troubled region by YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday.
Farmers are opposed to their land being mandatorily acquired for the project and have been blocking official despatched to the area for preparatory work.
Mr Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Leader of the Opposition, is scheduled to address public meetings at Kavulavada and Gudepuvalasa.
Ahead of the tour, YSRC factions in Vizianagaram closed ranks, with group leaders Majji Srinivas, Yedla Ramanamurty and K. Gowri Shankar sharing a dais with the party’s district president Kolagatla Veerabhadra Swamy and senior leader P. Sambasiva Raju at a meeting to review the arrangements for the public meetings.
On Saturday, some 380 police personnel, including four DSPs, eight circle inspectors and 18 sub-inspectors, were posted to the area as surveyors from Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) erected survey stones at Boyipalem and Dibbalapalem.
Eight arrested members of a local group opposed to the airport were released following protests at the police station where they were detained.
