Hyderabad, March 05: Opposition parties put the Andhra Pradesh government on the mat in the state Assembly on Saturday over the incident of police firing in Srikakulam district in which two villagers were killed on February 28.
The government, however, did not concede to the opposition’s demand for a judicial probe into the incident and payment of Rs 10 lakh each to the kin of those killed.
“From Gangavaram (port), Mudigonda (land) to Sompeta (thermal power project) and now Kakarapalli. Many people fell to police bullets. Is the government trying to build factories on human bodies in the name of development,” senior TDP MLA Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar questioned, initiating a short- discussion on the Kakarapalli firing incident.
“Are we living in a democratic country,” he said and regretted that the government did not learn lessons from the past incidents, the latest being at Sompeta in Srikakulam district itself few months ago in which three persons were killed.
Praja Rajyam Party, which will soon formally merge with the ruling Congress, too condemned the Kakarapalli incident and questioned why could not the government take up thermal power projects with the consent of (local) people.
“The government failed to resolve the issue amicably when villagers were protesting the setting of up the thermal power plant for over 150 days,” PRP deputy leader Bandaru Satyananda Rao said.
Lok Satta Party president N Jayaprakash Narayan participating in the discussion observed that earlier people used to sacrifice their lives for the sake of new projects but now they are losing lives by opposing them.
The government should ponder over the reasons for the growing public resentment particularly towards pollution-causing projects, he said.
Pointing out that the state government has permitted setting up of several power projects, both public and private sector, along the Bay of Bengal with a combined power generation capacity of 60,000 MW, Jayaprakash Narayan asked if the state really needed them.
“The controversial East Coast thermal plant proposed in Srikakulam is a merchant plant from which the state will not get even a single unit of power. What good is it for the state,” he questioned.
CPM leader Julakanti Ranga Reddy wondered if ‘rubber bullets’ too could be so lethal that people get killed.
“In that case, use of rubber bullets should also be banned,” he said.
In his response, Higher Education Minister K Parthasarathi, who is in charge of Srikakulam district, said the government paid Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the kin of the two persons killed in police firing.
“We have also made arrangements for treatment of injured persons while permanent houses will be built for those whose dwellings were damaged in the violent incidents at Kakarapalli and Vattithandra,” he said.
Earlier, making a statement in the house, Home Minister P Sabita Reddy said police had to resort to firing as the protesting villagers had turned violent.
Incidentally, the Assembly transacted normal business today for the first time during the ongoing Budget session after remaining paralysed for over a week over the Telangana issue.
——-PTI