Tension in Khammam as Velugumatla displaced families stage protest in Khammam

Tension prevailed in Khammam after families displaced from Velugumatla staged a protest on Wyra Road following police action against a hunger strike. Several women were injured in the melee. BJP leader N Ramachander Rao later met the affected families

Khammam: With B Shivdhar Reddy on a visit to the district headquarters, tension prevailed as families displaced from Velugumatla staged a protest at Wyra Road here on Sunday.

The protest was triggered when the police foiled a hunger strike staged on Sunday by Bahujan Shakti Sangh leader Bahujan Raju and Rakesh Dutta of Hyderabad Central University at Ambedkar Bhavan, demanding justice for the displaced families. The displaced families who were staying at Ambedkar Bhavan came onto the roads protesting against the police for foiling the hunger strike by taking Bahujan Raju and Rakesh Dutta into custody. The police also detained two activists of Jana Sena Party who came to support the families.

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Following this, the affected families staged a rasta-roko by squatting on the road and entered into heated arguments with the police. The police forcibly moved women and the elderly into the bhavan. In the melee, several women were injured. The women, in tears, shouted slogans against the State government and police action. The protestors were dragged into auto-rickshaws and shifted to the local police station.

Meanwhile, N Ramachander Rao, State president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, accused the State government of demolishing the houses of the poor in a violent manner for the benefit of real estate traders. He visited Velugumatla and Ambedkar Bhavan on Sunday to interact with the affected families. The BJP leader demanded that the government allocate house sites to the families and build permanent homes at Velugumatla. He said it was cruel to throw the poor on the streets with heavy police force, disregarding court orders.