Over 600 tribals from Majjigaruvu village in G. Madugula mandal in Visakhapatnam Agency assembled to take out a rally in protest against atrocities committed by the banned CPI(Maoist), on Wednesday.
The tribals demanded that the Maoists stop killing innocent tribals after accusing them of being police informers. This year alone, five tribals were killed by the Maoists in three different incidents across the Agency area.
To counter the protest rally, the Maoists also mobilised about 300 tribals from various villages to stage a dharna at the same spot.
“Both groups then had a face-off. They engaged in a debate and the former group was able to convince the latter that supporting the Maoists will not do any good,” said Superintendent of Police Attada Babujee.
The discussion was held in the presence of senior police officers such as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) of Narsipatnam Krishna Rao, Assistant Superintendent of Police (Chintapalli) Satish Kumar and Deputy SP (Paderu) Rajkamal.
The group supporting the Maoists was convinced that they were being exploited by the left-wing extremists and development was the only way forward, Mr. Babujee said.
After the debate, the tribals unanimously decided to support the police and the State administration to see that development reaches the tribal areas.
“Visakhapatnam Agency covers about 6,200 sq. km., close to 60% of the total area in the district, and there are no roads to over 1,200 villages. The lack of connectivity has resulted in an absence of medical, education and other basic infrastructure thus hampering development,” Mr. Satish Kumar said.
“The tribals have understood that development in the Agency area would improve their quality of life and they have come out to openly side with the government agencies,” Mr. Satish Kumar said.
