Once bitten, police went hyperactive this time to insulate Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s ‘Rytu Saadhikarata’ programme here on Friday from possible embarrassing scenes of protests like the one which greeted him during his visit at Kalavakolanu in Undi Assembly segment on November 1.
A group of IKP women animators had given police the slip and sneaked into Mr. Naidu’s programme at Kalavakolanu in the guise of SHG women to disrupt his speech protesting the government denying them their salaries for over a year.
Police this time were extra-cautious, launching pre-dawn swoops on the houses of the key functionaries of the CPI(M). In all, more than 25 leaders of the CPI (M) were arrested at various places in five mandals in the run-up to the programme. People attending the rally and the commoners commuting on the Kolkatta-Chennai National Highway-5 bore the brunt of the security beef-up.
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As the venue was located near this village abutting the highway, parking places for vehicles carrying farmers to the meeting were designated some 4 km away from the place on either side. This made people trek to the venue, forcing the Collector to make announcement to police to relax the curbs. All private schools were given holiday to facilitate use of school buses for transport of people to the venue.
The overzealous police brought the traffic on the NH to a grinding halt for the most part of the day. As Mr. Naidu came to the programme venue by road from Gannavaram airport, police closed the highway for traffic at Gundugolanu junction on the one side and Tadepalligudem on the other. As a result, vehicles, including autos and two- wheelers, moving to Tadepalligudem from Vijayaawada and Eluru, were diverted through the Nallajarla road from Gundugolanu Junction while the traffic from Tanuku and Tadepalligudem in the opposite direction was disallowed till the VVIP wound up his programme.
Consequently, the busy highway presented an empty picture for a great deal of time before the programme and traffic snarls became a common sight after the event. People travelling to Kaikaram, Chebrole and Unguturu from Eluru had to make a round-about for more than 15 km because of the traffic diversion.
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