Tribal people led by Adivasi Samkshema Parishad on Monday performed a ‘Jala Deeksha’ in the Sabari river on the tri-State border, demanding that the State government announce a special development plan for the tribal people displaced to make way for the Polavaram irrigation project.
Marking International Day of World’s Indigenous Peoples, the parishad members took out a motorcycle rally from Chintoor to the Sabari river point, where they staged the ‘Jala Deeksha’.
The protesters stood in the neck-deep waters in the river where it enters Andhra Pradesh from Chhattisgarh and shouted slogans. Many women and youth also participated in the deeksha.
“The special development plan, employment for the displaced people in the Polavaram hydropower project will somehow compensate the loss of livelihood for the evcuees. The State government must initiative measres in this regard,” demanded parishad general secretary Sunnam Venkata Ramana.
Parishad co-ordinator Madivi Nehru, Thodam Chandraiah, and other members took part in the protest.
