Date:05/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/05/stories/2007070559190800.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Statue desecration leads to traffic jam

Staff Reporter

Sangareddy: An altercation between two groups in Peddapur village under Sadasivapet police circle over the place for erecting a statue of Swami Vivekananda resulted in two-and-half-hours of traffic jam on the NH 9 in the early hours of Wednesday.

According to the police, trouble had been brewing up in the village adjacent to the highway ever since the statue arrived in the village.

Sensing trouble, the police made several visits to the village and tried to convince the warring groups and also suggested an alternate site.

They relented only after legislator T. Jayaprakash Reddy intervened and prevailed upon them to continue their protest elsewhere keeping in mind the trouble caused to travellers on the busiest highway. It took another one hour for the police to clear the traffic.