Tension prevailed at the Polavaram project site on Saturday, when migrant labourers tried to come out of the site and set off on foot to their home States.
Hundreds of workers removed the barricades at the police outpost and tried to rush out of the project site. Police dispersed the mobs and sent them back to their dormitories.
About 1,450 workers migrant workers from six States are working at the site. The workers have been demanding since a few days that they be sent back to their native places, and some of them reportedly walked to the nearby railway stations in West and East Godavari districts.
With the situation getting out of hands, Collector Revu Mutyala Raju, Superintendent of Police Navdeep Singh Grewal, along with the Revenue, Irrigation and Labour department officials held discussions with the workers on Friday, and reviewed the situation.
The officials assured the workers that they would provide transportation to the workers, and asked them to maintain social distance and hygiene at the project site. They alerted the government over the developments at the site and appraised higher-ups of the situation.
However, on Saturday, more than 500 labourers entered into an argument with the officials and removed the barricades demanding that they be allowed to walk to their native places.
Additional Superintendent of Police (Administration) Kareemulla Sharif rushed to Polavaram village and is monitoring the situation.
Speaking to The Hindu, Polavaram Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Venkateswara Rao said the situation is peaceful at Polavaram site and arrangements were being made to provide transportation for the migrant labourers.
“Food, accommodation and medical facilities have been arranged at the site and police pickets arranged in Polavaram village as a precautionary measure,” an officer campig at the site said.
