India News | Telangana: Farmers Hold Protest Against Draft Master Plan

Hyderabad, Jan 5 (PTI) A large number of people, including farmers, held a protest in front of the Collector's office in Kamareddy district in Telangana on Thursday against a draft master plan that allegedly includes agricultural lands in an industrial zone.

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The protesters, who asserted that they are not ready to part with their agriculture land, remained seated in front of the Collector's office for several hours.

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The agitators tried to remove the barricades put up near the Collector's office and few of them were seen climbing the gate. No force has been used by the police against them, a police official said.

Earlier, the protesters took out a rally before reaching the Collector's office.

BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao participated in the dharna in solidarity with the agitators.

A police official said the protesters wanted to give a representation to the district Collector but they were insisting that the Collector come out of the office and receive the petition from them.

A district official told a TV news channel that a delegation of farmers can submit their representation to the Collector but the situation may go out of control if a big crowd arrives in the office.

Meanwhile, State Municipal Administration Minister K T Rama Rao, who addressed a meeting of municipal officials, talked about the Kamareddy issue and said the government's endeavour is to serve the people effectively.

Observing that the master plan is still being drafted, he suggested that the authorities need to sensitise public that the plan can be changed as per people's opinion.

"In Kamareddy, some are protesting that about 500 acres has been put in industrial zone. My appeal to municipal commissioners is, this government is not for troubling anybody. We are here to help people. We are here to ensure (that) structured, planned development of the cities, towns in Telangana happens. As part of it, master plans are being prepared. The master plans should be convenient to the people and not otherwise," he said.

Rama Rao directed the municipal officials to listen to any objections from people during the preparation of the master plans.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)