Fresh row over merged mandals

KAKINADA: A controversy has erupted over rehabilitation of those displaced by the Polavaram Project. Some new families are being added to the list of the displaced and the list is exhibited in the Panchayat offices, after declaring the names in Grama Sabhas.

The existing families in the list are objecting to this addition. These families say they are facing all the problems, like floods thrice a year, for the past three years because of the project. “Even potable water is not available in the villages. If new families are added to the list, they will corner the benefits,” these families complained.

“We will be at a loss. Some officials and politicians are bringing fresh names and including them in the list of Polavaram Project victims by taking bribes from them. “We fear that the government may give priority to the newly enrolled victims due to their influence and we will not get what is our due,’’ said a resident of Kunavaram village.

He alleged that some of the politicians colluded with some of the affected villagers by bargaining with them, creating white ration cards and enrolling them as Polavaram Project Displaced Families.

The newly enrolled families argue that they also belong to the affected areas and have migrated to other places for work only in recent times. They say that during the rule of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, they became victims of the Polavaram Project. By now, their elders have died and the girls have attained maturity, got married and shifted to their in-laws’ or husband’s villages. But they are still eligible for the R & R package, they stress.

Meanwhile, an all-party meeting was held at Kunavaram that passed a resolution saying that if even one name is deleted from the beneficiaries’ list, they would launch a massive movement. Telugu Desam leader Bhaskara Rao said the party would fight for the rights of all the Polavaram project victims.

CPI division secretary Gujja Mohan said the government should provide white ration cards to the victims who are not having the cards and apply the R&R package provision to them as well.