Villagers of Chinthalthana, who were allocated sites in the Relief and Rehabilitation Colony on the outskirts of Vemulawada temple town, are worried as they have to build homes at a site that does not have any basic infrastructure like roads, drains or electricity.
“We were forced to leave our village and shift to the R&R colonies as the waters of Mid Manair Reservoir (MMR) entered our village,” R. Venkat Rao, a land oustee of Chinthalthana village, said. “In the R&R colony we were only allocated a plot, but we have not received any compensation. We have been compelled to take a loan for building our houses,” he added.
No livelihoods
The government had implemented the old Land Acquisition Act and fixed the rates for acquiring land at a rate of ₹2.1 lakh to ₹75,000. However, the compensation for the houses and other structures was given as per the Land Acquisition Act of 2013. But, the government failed to compensate all the land oustees as per new Act, Mr. Venkat Rao said.
“We lost our livelihood when we vacated the village for the sake of the project. We may have a shelter to live in the R&R colonies, but what about our livelihood?” he asked and urged the government to take steps to provide alternate employment to the project oustees failing which they would become landless labour.
The condition of SC/ST labourers was worse as they not only lost their homes but also employment in the village fields. Though, the government order says that the SC\ST project oustees should be provided with agricultural land, there was no mention of it anywhere in the R&R packages, the MMR project oustee added.
Gender bias
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which failed to give any representation to women in the Cabinet, has failed to recognise the rights of the girl children of the MMR project oustees in the payment of compensation.
Under the compensation package boys who crossed 18 years would be paid ₹2 lakh as wages, but there is no provision for compensation for the girl child, the villagers pointed out.
The girls were neither given house sites in R&R colonies nor were they paid compensation.
