The CPI (M) Bhadrachalam town committee on Saturday launched a two-day hunger strike in the temple town to press for its charter of demands including extension of karakatta (flood bank) along the Godavari river on a war-footing and release of ₹1,000 crore as announced by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao to implement an action plan to protect Bhdrachalam from the recurring menace of floods.
The main demands include demerger of the five gram panchayats (GPs) in Andhra Pradesh situated in the vicinity of Bhadrachalam with Telangana’s Bhadrachalam division, constitution of an expert committee on the backwaters effects of the Polavaram project, under construction in Andhra Pradesh, on Bhadrachalam.
Leaders of various Opposition parties, including the Congress, CPI and TDP, and also a clutch of mass organisations extended their support to the CPI (M)’s relay fast.
The District Congress Committee (DCC) president and Bhadrachalam MLA Podem Veeraiah along with prominent citizens of the temple town formally inaugurated the relay hunger strike.
CPI (M) district secretariat member M B Narsa Reddy presided over the inaugural meeting. Party State committee members M Venkateshwarlu and AJ Ramesh, among others, were present.
A host of CPI (M) activists led by party town committee secretary Gaddam Swamy took part in the relay fast on the inaugural day.
Speaking on the occasion, CPI (M) district secretary A Kankaiah recalled that the party led by former Bhadrachalam MLA late Sunnam Rajaiah organised relentless struggles to protect Bhadrachalam Agency from the potential risk of large-scale submergence due to the Polavaram project in the face of repressive measures in the past.
The height of the existing Karakatta (flood bank) along the Godavari in Bhadrachalam should be raised and it should be extended to other low-lying areas to find a permanent solution to the recurring problem of floods, he said.
He further demanded that the Central government should promulgate an ordinance in Parliament to ensure re-transfer of the five GPs from Andhra Pradesh to Telangana’s Bhadrachalam division to mitigate the woes of people living in the five GPs and pave the way for the development of Bhadrachalam town.
