People's Democracy

ANDHRA PRADESH

CPI(M) Struggles On Problems Of Urban People

                                                                    M Venugopala Rao

FOLLOWING the decision of the state conference of the CPI(M) to concentrate on issues of urban areas, programmes like padayatras and picketing of the district collectorates have been organised in a phased manner all over the state.  The Party decided to concentrate on municipalities and municipal corporations with a view to meeting the growing danger of communal, castiest and anti-social elements politically, on the one hand, and to dealing with the local problems of the poor, unorganised and middle class people, on the other. With the growth of urban population, who constitute around 28 per cent of the total population of the state, their problems, too, are getting intensified, with the failure of successive governments to meet their civic and other  requirements adequately. Keeping the political importance and seriousness of the problems being faced by the urban people, the CPI(M) allotted cadres exclusively to work there and organise people to address these problems.

To understand the burning problems being faced by the urban people, the Party conducted padayatras in 90 municipalities, ranging from 3 to 12 days, depending on the size of the municipality and the strength of the democratic movement. The Party’s committees of Visakhapatnam, Warangal, Vijayawada and Khammam organised these padayatras for 10 to 12 days.   During these extensive padayatras conducted in February and March, people in larger numbers, cutting across all affiliations, gave memoranda to the squads of the CPI(M), explaining their civic and other problems. As a culmination of these padayatras, thousands of people were mobilised at municipal offices; dharnas and demonstrations were held and memoranda submitted to the officers concerned.  During these padayatras, three burning issues – sanctioning of house sites; issuance of house pattas for regularisation of houses already constructed; and white ration cards to the people below the poverty line – came up mainly, apart from a host of other local problems.

After these padayatras, a state-level workshop was conducted for the cadres of the Party alloted to urban areas for three days in Hyderabad.  A total of 380 comrades attended the workshop. In continuation to it, district-level workshops were also organised in 20 districts. The purpose of these workshops is to impart political understanding of the importance of the work in urban areas and the style of functioning.

The problems in the urban areas have been persisting over a period of time and the erstwhile TDP government failed to solve them, notwithstanding its umpteen assurances to address the issues.  In its election manifesto, the Congress also gave several assurances to solve these problems of the urban people.  For the last ten years, no new white ration cards have been issued to the people below the poverty line.  Similar has been the position relating to sanctioning of house sites to the poor. Houses of those who have been staying in the government lands for the last 20 to 25 years have not been regularised till date.  During the first year rule of the Congress government, a government order banning the sanctioning of individual house sites in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district was issued.  However, in practice, the experience in the entire  state is on the same lines, though no formal ban on sanctioning individual house sites was imposed. As a result, discontentment among the people aspiring for house sites and regularisation of houses has been growing. Contrary to this position, the government has been taking steps to create land banks in urban areas and sanction house sites to the members of parliament, MLAs, judicial officers, journalists and political leaders at cheaper prices.

36-HOUR DAY-AND-NIGHT PICKETING OF COLLECTORATES - POLICE LATHICHARGE

Koratala Satyanarayana addressing the picketing at RangaReddy Collectorate

After the padayatras, as part of the second phase of the programme for 15 days from May 20 to June 5, grassroot-level meetings, conventions, relay fasts, local padayatras and round-table meetings were organised. As a culmination of the second-phase programme, massive picketings at the district collectorates were organised for four days between June 2 and 6. Thousands of people, especially women participated in these in large number.  A unique feature of these agitational programmes was that at the collectorates in Ranga Reddy district (in Hyderabad), Warangal, Vijayawada and Cuddapah and RDO office at Dharmavaram in Anantapur district,  day-and-night picketings went on for 36 hours continuously. Facing scorching summer heat, along with their children, hundreds of agitators cooked and took their food on the roads and slept at the collectorates, exhibiting their militancy and resoluteness to agitate for redressal of their problems and attracting the attention of the stream of people.  District leaders of the CPI(M) led the picketings. Employees were not allowed to enter the collectorates. The police resorted to lathicharge on the agitators at the collectorates of Kakinada, Adilabad, Nizamabad and Cuddapah.   Several leaders and workers were injured. At Warangal, the leaders of the CPI(M) and mass organisations, who were leaving the collectorate after giving up the agitation, following an assurance given on behalf of the district collector, the police obstructed and took them into custody, abused and beat them up indiscriminately in the police station, for the simple reason that they did not give up their agitation despite repeated appeals made by the police!  The police brutality was brought to the notice of a judge when they were produced in the local court. Cases have been registered against several agitators and leaders.

Addressing the picketing at the collectorate of Ranga Reddy district, Koratala Satyanarayana, central committee member of the CPI(M), demanded the Congress government to fulfil the promises made during the  general elections last year and sanction house sites to the poor and give white ration cards to all the deserving people. Finding fault with the Congress government for its indifferent attitude towards the burning problems of the people, on the lines of the erstwhile TDP government, Koratala made it clear that struggles alone were the way to get their problems redressed.  State secretariat member of the CPI(M), Y Venkateswara Rao and other leaders participated in the picketing at Hyderabad collectorate.

The next phase of action will be discussed and decided in the forthcoming meeting of the state committee of the CPI(M).