Srikakulam, March 03: A day after two villagers protesting the setting up of a thermal power plant were killed in police firing, an eerie silence enveloped the villages in the Santabommali mandal today.
Even as a pall of gloom descended on the villages, which were mourning the deaths, additional police forces trooped into some of the villages anticipating more trouble.
The bandh call given by the opposition parties was total in the entire district and passed off peacefully. Meanwhile, the families of the deceased protesters were kept waiting for an entire day before the bodies of G Nageshwara Rao and S Erraiah were handed over to them as the post-mortem was not completed till late in the evening. The condition of the five injured protestors, who were being treated in a hospital, is said to be stable.
The villagers in and around Santabommali mandal have been protesting against the setting up of a thermal power plant by the East Coast Energy Private Limited.
Vadditandra, Akasa Lakkavaram and HN Peta villages continue to be in the grip of fear as villagers apprehend clashes between police and protestors at any time. Additional police forces have been deployed in the villages.
Businesses downed shutters voluntarily while the other sections of society too joined the bandh paralysing life in the district. Leaders of opposition parties stopped the Yeshwantpur Express and Prasanthi Express at Palasa and Amudalavalasa railway stations respectively.
Members of the Paryavarana Parirakshana Samithi observed bandh in Sompeta region and extended their help by supplying essential commodities and rice to the fishermen and farmers who were rendered homeless after their houses were destroyed in yesterday’s fire.
Villagers of Lakhavaram stopped the convoy of district inchage minister K Parthasarathi for a while and raised slogans against the Congress government.
They held the government responsible for the death of the two villagers. Police intervened and dispersed the protestors.
State secretaries of CPI and CPM K Narayana and BV Raghavulu respectively and BJP senior leader Bandaru Dattatreya visited RIMS at Srikakulam and consoled the injured persons. They later staged a rasta roko on NH 14 at Etcherla.
The opposition leaders demanded Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia to the families of the deceased as against the Rs 5 lakh announced by the government.
Meanwhile, differences cropped up among the agitating villagers today with the people of Akasa Lakkavaram accusing the others of fleeing from the battle with police and claiming that it was their lone fight against the cops.
“Since policemen face a threat from villagers, the security forces have not been withdrawn.
–Agencies