Ex-servicemen seek representation in the Telangana Assembly

Hyderabad: Ex-servicemen have come out with a list of grievances, which, they said, the government had failed to address.

They told Deccan Chronicle that the major issue was regarding their land. In 1952, the Centre purchased 5,977 acres of land here for service personnel, it is now in the hands of the land mafia and politicians.

That apart, the ex-servicemen housing society at Defence Colony, near Sainikpuri, had purchased 112.03 acres of land but there has been illegal allotment to non-serviced personnel.

Yet another issue that needs attention, they said, was regarding resettlement.
The ex-servicemen, whose presence is more in the cantonment area, urged political parties to give them representation so that they could raise their issues in the Assembly, as much as they would civilian issues.

There are said to be about 2.47 lakh defence personals and ex-servicemen in the Secunderabad Cantonment constituency, especially in Ammuguda, Trimulgherry, Central Battery, Gandhinagar, Karkhana, Sikh Village, Bowenpally (Chinna Thokata and Pedda Thokatta), Bolaram’s Risala Bazaar and Downton Bazaar, Tadbund, Balamrai, Lakshminagar, East and West Marredpally. Around 30,000 families have been here for the last 300 years.

P. Guna Shekar, general secretary of the Combined Defence Welfare Association of Telangana state, said, “According to the director general’s resettlement plan, there are 93 welfare schemes earmarked for ex-servicemen in Telangana for serving the nation. As per the plan, each ex-serviceman has to be given five acres of dry land or two and a half acres of wetland or 350 sq. yds, as a house-site.”

There was some sort of land distribution till 2004. In that year, the N. Chandrababu Naidu government came up with a GO that prohibited the distribution of land to ex-servicemen in Hyderabad and Rangareddy districts. The then-state government also cancelled 149 pattas given to them prior to 2004.

He mentioned, “When the new state was formed we hoped that the state government would return the 5,977 acres of land in Jawaharnagar, by scrapping the GO that prohibited allotment of land to ex-servicemen. However, the government is hand in glove with the land mafia and today the land, which originally belonged to us, is in the hands of politicians, who run the mafia.”
Going further, he said, “Even if one ex-serviceman is fielded by political parties, we all will collectively ensure the individual’s victory. This will ensure that our issues are discussed and resolved in the Assembly.”

Meanwhile, P. Rajendran, chairman of the ex-servicemen wing in the TPCC, and 1971 gallantry medal winner, said, “It is time ex-servicemen are allowed to raise their voice and bring their problems in the Assembly. They are entitled to get party tickets to contest elections.”

Rajendran served as a councillor of Ward 24, Cantonment, from 2000 to 2005 and in 2007 received the Rajiv Gandhi Ekta Sanman award.

He added, “During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi, who interacted with us, assured us to resolve all our issues once the Congress comes to power.”