Firangipuram land dispute: Tension during festival in Firangipuram of Guntur district, police demolished walls of puja place.

Firangipuram Church Land: Tension has arisen due to road construction by the police in Firangipuram in Guntur district on the occasion of Sankranti festival. Hundreds of policemen have been deployed in the village for three days and tension continues. P

Locals say that villagers in Ponugupadu village of Phirangipuram mandal of Guntur district had built a prayer hall in 1903 on land given by the British government. Behind this, a boundary wall was built around the place of people of other religions. At that time the British government allotted separate lands to the three religions and fixed boundaries for them.

Efforts to build a road in the south direction behind the prayer place in the village have been going on for years. In Patta it is called the boundary of another religion. Due to this, the local people blocked the road construction work. A few years ago, the prayer place was not only separated but a security wall was also built. Efforts to build a road to facilitate the movement of people living behind the places of worship have been going on for years, while another group is opposing it.

Although the Revenue and District Administration have not issued any official order in this regard, the villagers allege that the District Police has shown activeness. On Sunday morning, hundreds of police entered the village and demolished the security walls and completed the construction work of the road. Due to this tension spread in the village.

It is alleged that the leaders of a political party, on verbal orders, demolished the walls of the prayer room and started the construction of the road. Tension continues in the village due to heavy deployment of police for the last three days. A section of the village is demanding that the government should take action against arbitrary occupation of land by the police despite the boundaries of the land sanctioned by the British government being clear.

Dalit communities are questioning why panchayats are the police when civil disputes have to be resolved only in courts. They are demanding that the state government should take action against those responsible for the conflict, saying the hills were arbitrarily demolished to benefit only three families and harm their religious beliefs. The villagers demand that a case be registered against those who ordered the demolition of the sentinel.