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Dispossessed, Gagged And Subdued

By Shivnarayan Rajpurohit

25 February, 2013
Countercurrents.org

The Relampadu reservoir was inaugurated by Minister for Information and Public Relations D.K. Aruna Reddy on January 3, 2013.

The Nettempadu Lift Irrigation Project (NLIP) is expected to benefit nearly 150 drought-hit villages of 8 mandals in Mahabubnagar district. The NLIP has 9 reservoirs, of which 2 reservoirs—the Relampadu Balancing Reservoir (RBR) and the Chinnonipalli Reservoir (CR)—will displace three villages-- Relampadu of Dharur Mandal, Aloor and Chinnonipalli of Ghattu Mandal. These three villages have been notified as “under submergence”.

According to the Andhra government’s report on resettlement & rehabilitation(R &R) for NLIP, these two reservoirs will serve an ayacut of 1.4 lackh acres. The land acquired for the RBR is 1669 acres against required 3050 acres; for the CR, the acquired land stands at 2408 acres against required 2463 acres.

Only Aloor has been compensated fully for houses and agricultural land by the government. For 885 houses in the village, 16.3 crore has been awarded to the project affected families (PAFs) in two phases; first, on 6 June 2010, second, on 8 July 2011.

In the rest two villages, the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) process is still under process. The NLIP started in September 2005 after getting the clearance from the Environment Ministry.

For Relampadu, compensation has been paid only for the agricultural land, but not for the housing structures that risk getting submerged due to the proximity to the Relampadu reservoir. Politicians are breathing down to villagers’ neck and dictated them not to speak to any activists and journalists. The latter have been promised to be rehabilitated properly, provided they do not tell others about their plight. That’s why, during our college trip to Relampadu, we are almost hounded out by the henchmen—supposedly--of political parties.

According to the Irrigation and CAD officials, 593 housing structures have been earmarked as project affected in Relampadu. Only 5 houses have received compensation worth Rs 29 lakh.

“We have waiting for so many years to get money for our houses. We tried to grab the attention of the political parties and administration with sit-ins, demonstrations, memorandums, but to no avail. To make matters worse, they have asked us to remain silent to journalists. If we speak we risk losing our compensation,” one villager from Relampadu said with perceptible dilemma on the condition of anonymity.

The villagers of Chinnonipalli have the same story to share. 251 housing structures have come under acquisition, and a payment of Rs. 6.03 cr. has been made for 241 structures.

Some villagers in Aloor complained about being poorly-compensated. The price of their land was set according to the market price prevailing in 2005, though the government started acquiring land in 2008.
“Villagers were paid more than the value of their land in the market,” said Minister D.K. Aruna, contradicting villagers’ claim

The R&R Committee, which includes Sarpanch and other local representatives, has tricked people into selling their land at throwaway prices. Marginal farmers who had less than 5 acres of land were given a raw deal. The valuation of land was gullibly accepted by the landlords and moneylenders who had large land-holdings. The realization for them was in crores.

According to the Andhra Pradesh government’s Policy of R&R for Project Affected Families, landless PAFs should be provided with “income generating schemes”. The landless families have not heard of any scheme, which is aimed at making them skillful. Graduates in the affected villages are forced to sell vegetables in nearest cities. “I used to earn by working in agricultural land after my college hours. Now I have nowhere to go,” said a B.Sc. Graduate who aspires to pursue MBA course. The government and the administrator for R&R seem to have scant regard for the landless agricultural laborers.

Though, the government has appointed an Ombudsman under “grievance redressal system”, but people fear political retribution if they file any complaint. No wonder, that they were cagey to spill any beans regarding administrative and political apathy.

In addition, villagers are disenchanted with the resettlement plots. The PAFs in Relampadu have been given house-plots, some three kilometers away on the elevated terrain. The government has given only verbal approval for the resettlement plots, without any title.

On aggregate level, under the supervision of the administrator for R&R, more than Rs 220 cr has been distributed for the acquired land (20,605 acres) under the NLIP project.

The R&R project for the NLIP has been dismal and tardy. Duping people and disrobing them of their assets on the pretext of swift compensation and resettlement will invariably lead to the marginalization of the rural people. Under the rotten expression i.e. “it-will- take-time”, politicians and bureaucrats can’t evade or delay their duties and responsibility.

Part IV of the proposed Land Acquisition Bill, 2011 alludes that the Administrator of R&R should be vested with the powers and duties for a “time-frame” (rather than saying time-bound) compensation procedure. The NLIP project started in 2005 and the PAFs are still waiting for R&R. Timely disbursement of awards and compensation can have a far-reaching effect on the uprooted villagers.

If the Center wrote “time-bound” delivery of compensation in the LARR,2011, it would be for the benefit all the to-be-displaced people. Let’s hope that the government pays heed to these loopholes. Moreover, the Centre needs to ensure that the dispossessed do not get sandwiched between inordinate delays from the land being acquired to the R&R protocols.

Shivnarayan Rajpurohit is a student of the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai

 

 

 




 

 


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