A team of Congress leaders on the way to Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project at Medigadda on Wednesday were detained by the police in Telangana’s Jayashankar Bhupalpally district.
The project was heavily damaged due to the floods in Godavari river last month.
The team, led by Congress Legislature Party leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, was stopped by the police at Bhupalpally town, stating that they did not have permission to visit the Kaleshwaram pump house.
Bhupalpally deputy superintendent of police (DSP) B Ramulu said according to the government instructions, no outsider was to be allowed near the project site, as restoration works were going on. He said Section 144 of Cr PC was in force near the Kaleshwaram project site and hence, nobody will be permitted to enter the area.
Vikramarka, however, expressed anger at police behaviour and sought to know “why a responsible public representative should be stopped to visit the project, which is a public property.”
With the police refusing to allow them to move further, the Congress leaders staged a sit-in on the main road at Bhupalpally in protest against the police.
Later, the police took the Congress leaders into custody and shifted them to Ghanpur police station, where they were let off in the evening.
{{/usCountry}}Later, the police took the Congress leaders into custody and shifted them to Ghanpur police station, where they were let off in the evening.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking to the reporters, the CLP leader demanded that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government should disclose the reasons for preventing the Congress leaders from going to Kaleshwaram and imposing Section 144.
“It gives rise to suspicion if the Kaleshwara project was completely damaged due to floods or if there are any secrets that should not be disclosed. There are reports in the media that several massive motors imported from foreign countries were completely submerged and suffered heavy damages. As responsible legislators, don’t we have the right to know what happened at the project site?” Vikramarka asked.
Pradesh Congress Committee president A Revanth Reddy also condemned the illegal detention of the Congress leaders including Vikramarka, MLAs D Sridhar Babu and D Seethakka and MLC T Jeevan Reddy.
He said there were no law and order issues at Kaleshwaram nor did the Congress leaders go there to create violence. “They went there only to get first-hand information about the magnitude of the damage to project,” he said. On Tuesday, too, the Congress delegation led by Vikramarka was prevented from visiting the Dummugudem project on Godavari river in Bhadradri Kothagudem district and interacting with the people in the flood-affected areas. The Congress leaders were taken into custody at Manugur Crossroads in Burgampahad block and were shifted to the local police station, before being let off late in the night.