Dalit Social Boycott: YSRCP Team Visits Boycotted Villagers

Eluru: A fact-finding team of YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) on Tuesday visited the troubled Garagaparru village, that is at the center of controversy over alleged social boycott of Dalits.

The team consisted of senior YSRCP leaders Dharmana Prasada Rao, Pilli Subhashchandra Bose, Allanani and Merugu Nagarjuna. The villagers told the team members that they planned to install Ambedkar statue in the village on the occasion of the Dalit icon's birth anniversary. Accordingly, the statue was installed at Cheruvugattu Center on April 23, they said and added that members of another community removed the statue overnight. "The community members told that since the installation of statue was sub-judice they cannot go ahead with their plans," they said. The villagers also told the team that a social boycott is being imposed on them as they were denied access to essential commodities, a charge denied by other villagers.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday police officials imposed Section 144 in sensitive areas of Palakoderu mandal and police pickets have been set up.