The villagers of Vemulaghat have once again questioned the district administration on the process being followed in acquiring land for irrigation project.
On Thursday some 40 villagers went to Siddipet Revenue Divisional Officer office at the district headquarters and and submitted a memorandum demanding that the district administration immediately withdraw award declaration.
Vemulaghat is one of the eight villages that would get submerged under the proposed Mallannasagar reservoir in Toguta mandal. From the beginning the farmers and residents of the village have been demanding implementation of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement – 2013 (LA Act-2013) and they had even approached the High Court and forced the administration to conduct a grama sabha in the village under Section 11 (1) of the Act.
800 objections
The villagers submitted some objections to the proposals of the district administration under Section 15 of the Act.
The villagers say 800 objections were submitted to the administration.
The district administration notified the award even without addressing or disposing off the objections. Many of the villagers received these declaration notices by post in the past one week.
The villagers who met the RDO questioned the issuance of the declaration not only without addressing the objections raised by the villagers but also without implementing sections 16, 17 and 18 of the LA Act – 2013.
Section 16 deals with Preparation of Rehabilitation and Resettlement Scheme by the Administrator, followed by Section 17 which deals with Review of the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Scheme and Section 18 that deals with Approved Rehabilitation and Resettlement Scheme to be made public.
Regulations ignored
The villagers charged the district administration with having jumped from Section 15 to Section 19 without addressing the three sections in between and said that hence publication of declaration under Section 19 will not stand good.
“We have submitted some objections which were not addressed so far in addition to the objections recorded in the grama sabha held on 21st September. I had received the award declaration notice on December 12th which was dated as 25th November. We have to be given at least one month time after issuing of notice of the declaration and so this award will not stand good,” said a villager Naini Malla Reddy in the memorandum submitted to the Siddipet RDO.
