Bandh observed in 11 agency mandals

Visakhapatnam, Jul 21: The Andhra Pradesh Girijan Sangh and other Girijan organizations today observed a bandh in all Agency mandals of the district to express to protest against non implementation of Act 1 of 70 of Tribal Land Transfer (Prevention) Act by the Revenue department.

Around 800 tribals took out a rally in Araku to demonstrate their anger and demolished some illegal constructions by the non-locals who had violated the Act. Though the bandh was peaceful the non-locals who were under threat from various sections of the tribal population experienced some tense moments during the day.

The Girijans have been agitating against improper implementation of the Act in the area for the past few days and demanding that non-tribals and non-locals who were buying lands for commercial use to build restaurants and shopping complexes in these parts under the guise of tribals with the help of the revenue officials be identified and punished.

Their intensified struggle recently resulted in the arrest of Araku ZPTC, Killo Surendra and Sunkarimetta MPTC, Saibabu and five others last Saturday. The arrested were produced in Chodavaram Magistrate court and remanded to judicial custody.

The Revenue officials, on the other hand said that a survey was underway to identify constructions in violation of 1 of 70 Act and a list would be prepared before initiating legal action.

UNI