Leader of the Opposition in Telangana State Legislative Assembly K Jana Reddy today condemned the brutal attack on Congress workers by “goons” of ruling TRS party at the public hearing on Kaleswaram project at Peddapalli.
Speaking at the Assembly media point along with leader of Opposition in the Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir and MLC T Santhosh Kumar, Jana Reddy said the police personnel remained silent spectators when hired goondas of TRS attacked Congress men right in the presence of the District Collector and the officials of Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) of Kaleshwaram Project. Such police brutality on the Opposition leaders, who were peacefully raising people’s issues was a dangerous trend which destroyed the basic tenets of democracy, he said. Jana Reddy said former minister D Sridhar Babu and other Congress workers, who went there to present their views before the committee were brutally attacked. The government should conduct the hearing in a transparent manner to benefit the affected farmers of that area. He also said the government should provide medical aid to the injured in the incident and also proper compensation to the victims as per the 2013 Land Acquisition Act. The TRS government, to cover up their failure to build the projects, was projecting Congress party as an hurdle to irrigation projects. But in a reality it was not true as the Congress always supported development programs and irrigation projects to get the farmers benefited, he said.
Mohammed Ali Shabbir said the method and process of opinion gathering was faulty and lopsided. Instead of listening to grievances of farmers and farm labor of the region, the public hearing sounded like a publicity stunt of the TRS government. The MLAs and MP of TRS encouraged the TRS cadre to attack the Congress workers, he alleged.
Shabbir Ali said the Congress has a long history of taking up large and medium irrigation projects and present projects were also initiated and completed 80% of the works. But the TRS government was delaying the projects in the name of redesigning and re-engineering causing inordinate delay. He also questioned about the agreement the State government signed with the neighbouring Maharashtra State. (NSS)