Tribals protest setting of firing range; stall awareness meet

Tension prevailed in a hamlet of Andhra Pradesh's Nalgonda district when a group of tribals including women held angry protests against the visit of an expert team and obstructed them from holding an awareness meet on setting of Rachakonda Field Firing Range (RFFR).

Some of the protesting tribals poured kerosene on themselves and also on one official of Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) during the protest at a hamlet of Narayanpur mandal in Nalgonda, even as village elders immediately intervened and pacified them, police said.
However, following the angry protests and strong opposition, the BDL and district authorities had to return without holding any awareness programme.
The Andhra Pradesh government had recently issued an order transferring over 5,500 hectares of forest land from the Army (which was earlier leased to Army) to BDL for setting up of the proposed RFFR.