On 7 September 1978, over one lakh agricultural labourers and other poor people from 150 villages took out a march to Jagtial town. Hidden in their houses, the landlords watched this development. By the next day a number of them were so shaken by this spectacle that they fled to the cities. The same day, the district collector of the area issued a letter which said that land reforms in Karimnagar should be implemented on a war footing.
