Representative image for an arrest.
Credit: iStock Photo
Hyderabad: Police arrested 12 farmers on Thursday in connection with protests against a proposed ethanol plant at Pedda Dhanwada village in Jogulamba Gadwal district. The arrested individuals have been remanded to judicial custody.
A case has been registered at Rajoli police station following the demonstrations on Wednesday. Rajoli SI K Jagdeeshwar said that several other protesters were involved in the incident, and police are currently examining CCTV footage to identify them.
The arrests stemmed from protests organised by local farmers opposing the establishment of an ethanol manufacturing facility in their village. Notices have also been issued to others who participated in the protest.
Tension erupted in Jogulamba Gadwal district of Telangana as farmers set fire to equipment brought to the site for establishing the ethanol plant on Wednesday. Farmers from Pedda Dhanwada and ten other surrounding villages have long opposed the project, but the factory's promoters quietly transported construction materials to the location on Tuesday night to begin work.
Angered by this development, villagers gathered in large numbers on Wednesday, stormed the construction site, dismantled makeshift arrangements, and torched a container. Farmers have been resisting the ethanol plant’s establishment, citing environmental concerns.
Around 1,500 farmers had staged protests in January, after which they claimed that local officials had assured them that the plant would not be built in the area. The farmers fear that, besides losing their livelihoods, the ethanol plant will destroy the local environment and ecology.