Thick, dark clouds hover over the sky. Gazing up, Udara Durga’s hands gather speed as she pushes the tool in her hand into the earth and pulls it out to loosen the soil.
If it begins to rain, she will have no place to take shelter. Durga is one of the dozen-odd women working in fields where all farm activity has ceased, to make way for construction of the new capital. A resident of Gopala Nagaram in Amaravati region, she now ekes a living by digging farm ponds.
With their farm lands given to the government for construction of new capital, thousands of tenant farmers have moved out of agriculture, searching for construction and other menial jobs. The plight of farm labour is even worse, as they have sacrificed their livelihood at the altar of the government’s grandiose plans.
Durga constitutes a group of 140 women, all from different villages in Amaravati region, who earn Rs. 210 per day, much less than what they earned as farm labour. The digging of farm ponds is taken up as part of the A.P. Government’s plan to create 10 lakh such panta kuntas to store water for use during dry spells. The profile of the capital region comprising 29 villages has undergone massive transformation. Lush green fields have disappeared leaving dry brown soil in vast stretches.
“We have had no work since cultivation stopped here. To make ends meet, we now dig these ponds using implements that are unfamiliar to us. We were promised that we would be paid once in a week but that has not happened. This is the third week and we still wait for our first instalment of payment,” says N. Koteswari, a member of Ambedkar group.
The women are engaged in the farm ponds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Besides payment of Rs. 210 per day, they are given 5 litres of drinking water per head. Additional payment to meet transportation charges is a demand that has been turned down by the officials. “I pay Rs. 15 every day towards transportation, which leaves me with only Rs. 95,” rues D. Mariam, a resident of Ambedkar colony.
While driving towards Amaravati, one greets with large holes dug out in the farm lands in square or rectangular shapes, to harvest rain water that can be stored for future use. “The government is planning for a safe future, fair enough. But what about our present ? After this we have no clue what next,” says a distraught Annapurna Mandarapu, yet another daily wage worker.
