Enraged by the government’s lukewarm response to their agitation for a profitable price for their crops, farmers from several villages in Armoor and Nizamabad divisions laid siege of the National Highway-44 since Saturday morning.
Dividing into groups they staged rasta roko at Jakranpally, Perkit and Sone bridge in a distance of 25 km each badly affecting traffic movement. A large number of women farmers also participated in the agitation. The cooked their food on makeshift fireplaces on the road and had lunch on the Highway. The farmers even prepared to spend the night on the Highway sleeping on durries spread on the road.
As a precautionary measure police took several farmers and their leaders into custody in the villages and shifted them to different police stations since midnight on Friday. Those arrested included All India Kisan Mazdoor Sangh State secretary V. Prabhakar and Telangana-TDP district general secretary Yada Goud.
Strongly condemning the arrests, former chairman of District Cooperative Marketing Society Munipally Sai Reddy, said the Government, instead of finding a solution to the problem was resorting to repression. He said the rulers were neglecting the issue though the agitation was going on for the last 15 days.
Agitation to continue
He said ‘Vanta Vaarpu’ (cooking on the road) and rasta roko would continue till the authorities responded. “The farming community would not accept a purchase price less than ₹15,000 per quintal for turmeric and ₹3,500 per quintal for red jowar,” he said and demanded direct purchases by the government.
Farmers who staged rasta roko at one stage lay down on the road shouting “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”, braving the hot sun. The police diverted traffic from Dichpally. They routed it via Nizamabad-Basar-Bainsa-Nirmal onto NH-44 in Nirmal district.
A large contingent of police force was deployed for the security and they posted pickets at different points along the road between Dichpally and Sone. Commissioner of Police Kartikeya personally supervised the bandobust. The agitation was continuing at the time of filing of this report.
