Stop sale of Azam Jahi Mills land in Warangal, Maoists to Telangana government

Say Congress government instead of punishing the encroachers is protecting them and trying to sell the mills’ lands to private persons

Warangal: CPI (Maoist) Jayashankar-Mahabubabad-Warangal (2)-Peddapalli division committee secretary Venkatesh demanded the State government to stop sale of land of the Azam Jahi Mills here and hand over the land to workers.

In a statement released to the media here on Monday, he said the workers bought 12 guntas of land belonging to the mills and constructed their union building to discuss their issues. But two individuals — Chikkudu Prabhakar and Suddala Nagaraju — created fake documents and sold that piece of land to a trader Om Namashivaya even as the matter related to the lands was pending in the court.

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The Congress government instead of punishing the encroachers was protecting them and trying to sell the mills’ lands to private persons. When the workers went to the police station to lodge a complaint against those who grabbed their union building, the police refused to register a case, he alleged.

Venkatesh said that Azam Jahi Mills established during the Nizam’s era was closed in 2002 by offering voluntary retirement scheme forcefully to around 451 workers. In 2007, the then Congress government, unmindful of the workers’ demands to reopen the mills, sold a part of 226 acres of valuable lands of the mills to different private entities.

Individuals like Om Namashivaya and Gottemukkala Narender have grabbed the factory lands; built houses and sold them to the public. For the past several years the workers, who wanted rights over the lands of the factory, have been fighting to protect their interests and have knocked on the doors of the courts, he said.

Venkatesh demanded the government to take legal action against those who were involved directly or indirectly in the demolition of the union building and rebuild the union building. He called upon the media, the public and intellectuals to support the workers and fight for their rights.