CM's Constituency Witnesses Farmers' Ire

HYDERABAD: The Gajwel Assembly constituency represented by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao faced protests from farmers of seven villages seeking compensation for land acquired for the construction of the Mallannasagar reservoir.

Oustees of the reservoir staged a rasta roko on the Rajiv Rahadari on Sunday, resulting in a halt of vehicular traffic. The farmers sat on the highway and raised slogans against the state government. They sought full payment of compensation for the land acquisition. Vehicular traffic between Hyderabad-Karimnagar highway was disrupted for a long time.

They said around 13,000 acres of patta land were acquired for the construction of Mallannasagar, which is a part of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS). The BRS government had promised them compensation under the rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) package along with open plots and houses, they said.

“The market value of the agricultural land is around Rs 20 lakh per acre, but the state government declared a '6 lakh compensation. The full payment of compensation, as also release of plots and houses have not been sanctioned so far,” they said.

Farmers of nine villages in Toguta and Kondapaka mandals had lost their lands for construction of Mallannasagar reservoir.

Sarpanches and the MPTC and ZPTC members had convinced the farmers to surrender their land for the Mallannasagar. Now, the oustees are pressurising the elected representatives for release of the pending compensation. The farmers are regularly approaching the district administration but in vain. Around 1,000 farmers filed cases in courts for suitable compensation.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle,  Prathap Reddy of Etigadda Kistapur said that the officials had denied compensation to the farmers. A few farmers died as they were distressed over the loss of their lands and not getting suitable compensation, he said.

BRS leaders assured the farmers that plots and houses for the oustees would be provided to them, but this has not happened. On the pretext of migration of the oustees, the names of farmers were deleted from the compensation list, he said.

Siddipet additional collector Srinivas Reddy persuaded the farmers to withdraw their agitation. He said that the issue would be brought to the notice of minister T. Harish Rao and Chandrashekar Rao.

Farmers leaders warned that they will resume the agitation after a week if the officials failed to resolve the problems.  They alleged that the district officials failed to bring the plight of farmers to the notice of Chandrashekar Rao.