Even as the entire State is in a celebratory mood for Sankranti festival, farmers of eight villages under Kamareddy town are ushering in the new harvest season by continuing their protest over the Kamareddy town draft master plan.
The Master Plan-2041 unveiled by the authorities for Kamareddy town is uprooting about 800 farmer families in the eight villages from their fields. Though officials and ruling party leaders have been stating that it was only a draft proposal and objections filed would be looked into before finalising the master plan, the farmers are not convinced and are seeking a written assurance from authorities in this regard.
To build pressure on authorities, the farmers’ joint action committee (JAC) called upon local residents and families of farmers to register their protest with rangoli on Sankranti day, on Sunday.
Responding to the clarion call, some farmers and their families started drawing rangoli in their respective villages a day in advance — on the occasion of Bhogi on Saturday. This was seen in all the eight villages that would lose lands under the proposed master plan.
Some of the slogans drawn by farmers on village lanes and bylanes read, ‘Cancel the Master Plan’, ‘No farmer-No food’, ‘Farmer has to win-farming has to continue’, and ‘You enjoy in your homes by laying industries in our fields. Government, MLA and Municipal officials-Is this justified?’.
The JAC has called for protest with rangoli at Kamareddy town on Sunday.
Ruling BRS vice-chairperson of the municipality and 14 ward councillor G.Indupriya Chandra Shekar Reddy wrote a letter to the Municipal Commissioner on Saturday, requesting the cancellation of the 80 feet and 100 feet roads, and green zone under the draft master plan in Devunipally and Lingapur outskirts. She and a couple of other councillors met the farmers and stated that they are ready to sail with them and that they would not hesitate to resign if their demand was not met.
In a related development, the farmers approached the Telangana State Human Rights Commission and filed a complaint on Friday alleging that the police had lathi-charged them when they tried to submit a memorandum to the district collector on January 6. They said that seven persons were injured in the lathi-charge and urged the commission to investigate the issue.
