UNABATED repression and police highhandedness marked the visit of CPI(M) Andhra Pradesh state secretary P Madhu and other Left leaders to Bhimavaram in West Godavari district where villagers have been protesting against the setting up of a mega food park. The proposed Aqua Food Park is one of the 42 mega units sanctioned by the erstwhile UPA-II government. The food park intends to provide processing and storage facilities for fish and prawn in East and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh. It will comprise 30 fish and prawn processing units and expected to process 16,000 tonnes per day. Though the private promoters are claiming to have got a valid licence to establish the park, the ground reality is otherwise. The project does not have the approval of the gram panchayat, which is mandatory.

There have been continuous protests against the establishment of the park at Tundurru by the people of 40 villages around it. The three villages mostly affected by the project -- Tundurru, Kamsali Bethapudi and Jonnelagaruvu -- have been raising severe objections to the park and has demanded that it be shifted out. The authorities turned a deaf ear to the objections of the protesting villagers all along and have jumped into action all of a sudden due to political pressure. The management of Aqua Food Park has been campaigning that it will create around 2,000 jobs and that they will address the concerns of environment pollution as a pipeline will be constructed from the park to the Bay of Bengal for over 20 kms to discharge the effluents. However, the actual ground situation belies their claims.

The protesters said that poisonous gases released from the processing chambers will be hazardous not only to the local people but also to nearby Gontheru drain, which is the lifeline for fishing and irrigation. Ignoring the villagers’ opposition, the Chandrababu government wants to go ahead with establishing the park. However, the plan to lay the foundation stone by Chandrababu Naidu couldn't be fructified due to simmering discontent in the villages. There has been a heavy deployment of police in all the villages surrounding Tsundurru to suppress the people's voice. The government is unable to stomach the fact that the Left parties are supporting the struggle of the people. The entire government machinery is in full throttle to foil the struggles of villagers and Left parties. Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC have been clamped for nearly a month and false cases are being filed against hundreds of people who are opposing establishment of the food park. Visit of representatives of NGOs and civil liberty organisations and MLCs of PDF boosted the fighting spirit of the villagers and gave impetus to their struggle.

To express solidarity with the people, leaders of CPI(M), CPI, other Left parties and YSR Congress had planned a visit to the affected villages on October 1. The Chandrababu government tried through all means to foil their visit. Massive preventive arrests were made. Madhu somehow managed to reach Bhimavaram. Police arrested Satyanarayana Murthy, assistant secretary of CPI’s Andhra Pradesh state committee and others on the way to the village. At Bhimavaram, Madhu was dragged on the road and was hit in the abdomen before being virtually thrown into a police van by the SI of Bhimavaram. The highhandedness of the police came in for severe criticism. CPI(M) West Godavari district secretary S Balaram, district secretariat member Ch Babu Rao and others were arrested too.

There were widespread protests across the state against this police highhandedness, forcing the government to climb down and release Madhu. Leaders of Left parties -- Madhu, Murthy and others -- once again visited the affected villages on October 4 defying the prohibitory orders clamped by the police authorities. They were given a rousing welcome by the people in the affected villages. The leadership infused confidence in the agitating people. The affected people who assembled in large numbers expressed their anguish over the attempts of the government in suppressing their genuine grievances through police action and exuded confidence that they will continue their struggles in the future too as the visit by leaders of the Left parties reignited their spirits and boosted their morale.

Addressing a public meeting, Madhu lambasted the Chandrababu government for shielding capitalists while trying to marginalise the small and marginal farmers. CPI(M) and other Left parties will not keep quite if the government continues to suppress the opposition to the park, he said. Leaders of CPI, MCPIU and other parties also addressed the public and exhorted them to resist the establishment of the park which will pollute Gontheru drain and make the surrounding villages water-starved.