Amid protests by farmers in Telangana’s Kamareddy, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Bandi Sanjay was booked by police on Friday, January 6. Police have registered the case under non-bailable sections against Sanjay and eight others, who had joined the protesting farmers at the Kamareddy district collectorate on Friday. Tension prevails in the district over the municipal master plan, as farmers fear that it could result in the government seizing their land.
A group of BJP workers, led by Sanjay, and some farmers tried to barge into the collectorate, leading to an altercation with police. They reached the collectorate by removing police barricades, and police said that a few of them resisted arrest. In an effort to defuse the situation, police have shifted Bandi Sanjay to Hyderabad. A case under Prevention of Damage to Public Property (PDPP) Act and section 353 of the Indian Penal Code (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) against Sanjay, former Zilla Parishad chairman K Venkataramna Reddy, former MLA E Ravinder Reddy and others was registered at Devanpalli police station. Kamareddy Superintendent of Police B Srinivas said that investigations were on, and warned of legal action against the others involved in the incident.
Following the incident, district collector Jitesh Patil clarified that the master plan will not involve land acquisition. “The master plan does not involve any land acquisition. The lands marked under ‘Industrial land use zone’ does not necessarily mean industries will be set up in those areas. The previous master plan also had similar markings but none of those farmers ended up losing their lands,” he said.
Farmers from a number of villages in Telangana including Ilchipur, Adloor-Yellareddy, Lingapur, Devunipally, and Tekriyal within the Kamareddy and Yellareddy Assembly constituencies have been protesting for over a month against the master plan, demanding that their agricultural lands be excluded from the proposed green zone and industrial zone.