Meira blasts TRS govt on sand mafia

‘This is not the Telangana we dreamed of’

​Karimnagar: Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said the dreams they had when the Telangana state was formed have been shattered. “When the state was formed, we felt that there would be no atrocities on Dalits, Adivasis, BCs and minorities.

But the Nerella incident in which SCs and BCs were subjected to third degree treatment in police stations, had belied their hopes and aspirations,” she said. Meira Kumar, who turned emotional on seeing the victims who were subjected to third degree treatment by the police and those who were lodged in the jail, strongly condemned the atrocities and demanded a judicial probe into the incident. She demanded that all the guilty policemen be booked under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Talking to the media after interacting with those who were in jail, Meira Kumar said, “I was in extreme pain when I was told about Nerella incident. I could not control my tears." She met four of the eight alleged victims of police torture.

The former LS Speaker said the victims broke down while narrating the police brutality. They were beaten up severely and given electric shocks. She said she was allowed to meet only four of the victims lodged in the jail while one is undergoing treatment in a hospital. She said the victims were ordinary citizens belonging to SC and BC communities. The victims, she said, had suffered internal injuries like damage to kidneys and ribs. With full of tears in her eyes, Meira Kumar said, “Are we living in 2017?" she asked.

She said that one of the victims is a commerce graduate who has not been given the promised job by the TRS government. She said another victim could not complete his graduation due to non-payment of scholarship by the present government. "This is not the Telangana for which we had struggled so much," she said.

The senior Congress leader said the sand mafia was ruling the roost in the region. "Have we formed a separate state for sand mafia? They are over-loading and over-speeding their trucks. They don't care about people getting killed or injured in accidents. One sarpanch told me that five people were killed in accidents in his village. But no FIR was filed, no compensation was paid and no contract was cancelled," she alleged.
Meira Kumar described the cases booked against Dalits and BCs as false.

She said two lorries were reportedly set ablaze during the night on July 2 by some unknown persons. However, the police picked up these poor people. They were kept in illegal custody and booked under serious offences. She said the victims were warned that their women would be booked in heinous offences if they reveal anything about the torture. "Telangana is known for its great culture.

But the shameful act by the local police and administration has brought disrepute to Telangana's culture," she said. Meira Kumar demanded that the activities of the sand mafia be stopped immediately. She also asked the Central government to act on incident.

So far, it had not even sought a report. What is more, neither Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao nor any of his ministers had visited the villages to enquire about the incident. The Congress will raise the issue in Parliament, she added.

TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, Koppula Raju, K Jana Reddy, Shabbir Ali, Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, T Jeevan Reddy, J Geetha Reddy, V Hanumantha Rao, Ponnam Prabhakar, Sridhar Babu and others were present.