Over three weeks after Araku MLA Kidari Sarveswara Rao and former MLA Siveri Soma had been killed allegedly by the cadres of CPI (Maoist), a letter written by Gopi, secretary of the banned outfit’s Galikonda Area Committee, East Division, surfaced on Wednesday. Though the letter did not claim direct responsibility for the killing, it tried to justify the act saying that “rampant quarrying, lack of development, and high-handedness of the police are the reasons.”
Dig at Naidu
Attacking Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Maoists said that on the one hand the CM had been saying that he would not encourage any form of mining, including bauxite, in the Agency area and on the other not acting on TDP leaders such as Kidari Sarveswara Rao, Ayyanna Patrudu, and Peela Govind, who were indulging in “mining and quarrying by using their muscle and money power.” The Maoists also accused the police and other enforcement agencies of being mute spectators to it.
‘Ecological destruction’
There were 14 mining and 314 quarry leases in the Anakapalle division and one large and 114 minor leases in the Visakhapatnam division, the letter claimed. Rampant quarrying was destroying the ecological balance in the Agency area and girijans were losing their livelihood, the letter said.
The Maoists alleged that Sarveswara Rao and his friends – Bukka Rajendra and K. Rambabu – were owning a quarry at Gudda village of Hukumpeta mandal. Because of the blasting in the area, about 300 acres of agriculture land in the neighbouring villages had become unfit for cultivation, the Maoists alleged.
In G.K. Veedhi, a chemical used in blasting found its way to the neighbouring lake and polluted the water body, which catered to the irrigation needs of 2,050 acres, Gopi said in the letter.
The Maoists also claimed that a reservoir in Anakapalle had become polluted because of quarrying and about 100 people died both in the Agency and plain areas as a result. They also alleged that most of the mining and quarry leases were illegal and being operated with the consent of the authorities concerned.
Questioning the stand of the government on G.O. 97, quarrying, and handing over coffee cultivation to the girijans, the Maoists demanded that the Opposition make its stand clear on these issues.
The Maoists further alleged that police atrocities had increased. Innocent people were being picked up, illegally detained, tortured, and later shown as surrendered Maoists, the letter alleged.
Tribal rights
It further alleged that the special Acts protecting the tribal rights such as 1/70 Act, Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and Forest Rights Act were not being implemented.
If the TDP and BJP leaders, and the police did not change their attitude towards the girijans, they would face the wrath of the people, the letter warned.
