VISAKHAPATNAM: The 50 adivasi families of Chinna Jaggampeta in Nathavaram mandal in Visakhapatnam district camped outside the office of the Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO) and launched a hunger strike on Thursday.
The adivasis sought immediate suspension of the RDO of Narsipatnam, Korada Suryarao, return of the paddy crop that was cut and forcibly confiscated by the MRO, intervention of the Joint Collector for settling the issue, and cancellation of the RDO’s order that empowered the MRO to cut the crop.
On January 6, MRO Kanaka Rao, along with a team of over 50 armed policemen and 70 hired labourers, descended on the village and cut the paddy crop that was nearing harvest after forcibly transporting 70 of the villagers to the KD Peta Police Station located about 30 km from Chinna Jaggampeta.
The MRO had acted upon the RDO’s order under CrPC Section 146.
The year-long toil of the adivasis was ignored and their produce taken away by the authorities. Since then, they had been running from pillar-to-post seeking justice.
Since our pleas had fallen on deaf ears, we decided to sit on hunger strike till our demands were met, said Pydiraju, a farmer from the village.
The adivasis had been in possession of 22 acres of land since the pre- Independence era, and tilling the land and living on the produce through a self-sustained unique cooperative farming model.
But since 1974, a non-tribal by name Ankam Reddy Nookaraju from the neighbourhood has allegedly been trying to grab the land. He has even managed to get a pattadar passbook.
Based on the passbook, and in spite of a civil case pending in the High Court and the court’s directive to maintain status quo, the RDO had issued the order.
The adivasis said that they had brought the issue to the notice of Ayyanna Patrudu, Panchayat Raj Minister, during the run-up to the 2014 elections. He then promised to regularise the land in their favour and issue a passbook.
“But nothing has been done so far,” said V. Parvathi, a farmer.
According to former Union Energy Secretary E.A.S. Sarma, the Konda Doras who inhabit the village belong to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group.
China Jaggampeta, though not listed under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, had been included in the list of 800 villages (in the erstwhile unified AP), he said. The then State government had formally identified it and proposed to the Central government to include it in the list of Scheduled Areas through a Presidential notification.
Presently, the village lies within the Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) area, for which the State has enacted the Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan Act No.1 of 2013, and has been providing special budgetary allocations year after year.
“Hence, the move by the RDO and the MRO, which is against the High Court order, is unconstitutional. Immediate action should be initiated against the erring officers,” said Mr. Sarma.
