Officials try to vacate farmers from their own land for helipad in Suryapet-Telangana Today

The officials made a vain attempt to force them to lift the paddy stock and vacate the place immediately to facilitate construction of a helipad for the visit of Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy

Suryapet: Officials in Nereducherla mandal of Suryapet district on Saturday gave a rude shock to farmers who had spread out their fresh harvest of paddy in the open.

The land used for drying paddy was also owned by them and not a public place.

The officials made a vain attempt to force them to lift the paddy stock and vacate the place immediately to facilitate construction of a helipad for the visit of Civil Supplies Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy. Their behaviour sparked outrage and came in for condemnation by the local farmers.

As the farmers questioned the ‘on the spot’ oral orders, the officials allegedly snubbed the protesting farmers, with one of the officers reportedly threatening them saying: “You must comply with the orders immediately. Filming videos won’t change anything.”

The farmers, however, stood their ground, questioning why they should disrupt their work for the helipad.

‘This is our own land. Why should we remove our paddy for this?” they argued, accusing the officials of deliberately harassing them.