Tension prevails in Alakurapadu over memorial for Maoists

ONGOLE: Once again a storm seems to be brewing between the police and Maoists in Prakasam district, as mild tension prevailed in Alakurapadu and surrounding villages. Families of Maoist victims staged a dharna at the Collectorate here on Monday, demanding a judicial inquiry by a sitting High Court judge into the brutal attacks on the police and tribals by Maoists. The victims’ families demanded that the government demolish the Alakurapadu pylon from the site of revolutionary writer G Kalyan Rao.

The protesters also requested that the land should be allotted to families of Maoist attack victims. They also questioned why Civil Liberties Committee and NGOs were not visiting their village for fact-finding, when the tribals were being killed by Maoists after branding them as police informers.

Tensions are running high over the construction of memorials for Akkiraju Prudhvi alias Munna, son of Akkiraju Haragopal alias RK and two others at Alakurapadu village in Tanguturu mandal. Munna was killed in Ramguda encounter in Bejjanki forest on October 24 last year along with around 30 party activists, which became a sensation. Munna studied till Intermediate in Ongole. A Sirisha, wife of RK, hails from Alakurapadu and she is the sister-in-law of Kalyan Rao.

She brought the body of Munna to Alakurapadu for performing last rites. It is alleged that some villagers of Alakurapadu constructed a memorial for encountered Maoists Munna, Dattatreya and Jayakumar of Alakurapadu on the site of Kalyan Rao. Kalyan Rao got DKT patta for the site around 25 years ago. The revenue authorities issued a show-cause notice to Kalyan Rao asking why the patta should not be cancelled as he allowed construction of a memorial for Maoists instead of constructing a house. Later, he built a small hut in the remaining portion of the site. 

CI S Devaprabhakar and SI Tanguturu visited the village and asked Kalyan Rao and locals to demolish the memorial for Maoist party activists, but the locals refused. A case has been registered in Tanguturu police station against Kalyan Rao and others stating that they obstructed police from discharging their duty.