People of Thondangi Mandal of East Godavari of AP with the support of Left parties successfully stopped land grab by the government for Divi’s Laboratories Limited – a corporation that manufactures chemical ingredients for pharmaceutical companies. Divi’s wants to set up their unit with an investment of Rs 500 crores investment at Thondangi Mandal of East Godavari. This Mandal is on the sea coast, so the company wants the site to be able to dump hazardous chemical waste into the sea, just as many other industries are doing on the AP sea coast, reducing their expenditure on chemical waste management/treatment. With the full support of the Chandrababu Naidu government, Divi’s want to take 505 acres of land from Thatiyakulapalem, Kothapakala, Pampadipeta and surrounding villages in Thondangi Mandal.
Using the ruling party henchmen, the government was able to coerce villagers into giving ‘consent’ for 60 acres of 505 acres of land but most of the small and marginal farmers remain opposed the government’s move of land grab, which is violating the provisions of the 2013 Act – The Right To Fair Compensation And Transparency In Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation And Resettlement Act. The Chandrababu Government has already been partly successful in violating the 2013 Act in Amaravathi – the state capital region in Krishna district, and has since become a roll model for other Chief Ministers in the country. But the people of Thondangi are resisting the land grab with determination.
The AP state government mobilized a police force of nearly 300 in the area to create fear in the people (the same strategy they used in Amaravathi) and unleashed a lathi charge on the villagers. On September 6, CPI (ML) Liberation leaders Comrades Bugatha Bangaru Raju, Lachababu, Janadha and others reaching the public meeting site at Panmpadipeta, and the police detained them and registered a criminal case against them. People tried to reach the police station to protest the arrests but the police used force to prevent them.
The entire area was declared under Section 144 to prevent Left leaders from meeting people, while ruling party agents were allowed to roam the area with police protection. The CPI (ML) Liberation held a protest dharna on September 12th demanding withdrawal of Section 144. On September 12th, Comrades Bangara Raju, Lachababu, and Janardhan were arrested and instead taking them to the local police, they were taken to the Annavaram Police station accompanied by a heavy police force.
Women comrades of CPI (ML) Liberation travelled to the affected villages holding several small group meetings with women to explain the toxic nature of the chemical industries, and mobilizing women for the protests. CPI(ML) Liberation, New Democracy and Jana Shakti together gave a call for dharnas in front of the Tahsildar offices in the district in solidarity with struggling people of Thondagi from 12th to 19th September. In meantime the High Court of Andhra and Telangana gave a ‘status quo’ order restraining the government from grabbing the land – a victory for the protesting villagers.
