BRS leaders, farmers detained ahead of ‘Chalo Hyderabad’ protest over RRR land acquisition

Hyderabad: Several Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leaders, farmers and others were taken into custody or placed under house arrest by police on Monday, ahead of the party’s ‘Chalo Hyderabad’ protest against the acquisition of farmers’ lands for the Regional Ring Road (RRR). In Ayyavaripally, Bhimaram, and neighbouring villages, police reached the residences of a few BRS leaders early in the morning and detained them. Raising slogans against the Congress government for its approach towards the farming community, BRS leaders including Veeresham and Shiva criticised the police action. They alleged that the government was forcibly taking over farmers’ lands without offering fair compensation. Many small and marginal farmers, they said, were losing not just their land but also their livelihood. In Nalgonda, police detained several farmers and leaders of the CPI(M) to prevent them from joining the protest at the HMDA office in Hyderabad. The CPI(M) too is protesting against what it termed the Congress government’s failure to address farmers’ issues and is demanding that the State desist from forcibly acquiring farmlands.