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Farmers beaten up at Moinabad

Moinabad (Ranga Reddy dist.): APTransco officials picked up 18 farmers and labourers from different habitations in this mandal of Ranga Reddy district, adjoining the State capital, and beat them up after raids they conducted late on Friday night and Saturday for pilfering power and not paying electricity dues since 2005.

Two among those picked up by the electricity officials sustained bleeding injuries. One of them, Yadi Reddy, lodged a complaint of assault against the Vigilance officials of Transco following which the Ramgopalpet police registered a case, according to DCP (Central Zone), Hyderabad, P. Hari Kumar.

The raids led to tension in the mandal as farmers from Moinabad staged a dharna before the Vigilance wing of APTransco at Buddha Bhavan in Hyderabad, where the arrested were taken. What caused outrage among villagers was the Vigilance officials’ action in picking up family members of those farmers who were not present during the raids.

“I have never seen the inside of a police station in all my 57 years. As I did not have money after performing my daughter’s marriage last month, I begged APTransco officials to give me some more time to pay the dues of Rs. 18,000,” said Potharaju Darshan of Yenkepalli village. His son P. Chandu was rudely woken up at 5 a.m. on Saturday and taken away by the raiding party. The officials stomped on bedsheets and mattresses with their shoes. “They did not even give him time to wash,” rued his sister Surekha.

A woman (name not revealed), who has three children, said she was away from home the whole of Friday night literally shivering with fear. “My husband left me with three children, 10 years ago. They pulled out my power connection and yanked off the meter six months ago. As a cook, I hardly earn enough to feed my little ones,” she said.

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