KURNOOL: Former Union Secretary E.A.S. Sarma has urged A.P. Irrigation Secretary Shashibhushan Kumar to reconsider the government orders revoking the gratuitous relief of Rs. 9.11 crore granted earlier vide GO Rt. No. 565 on September 3, 2015, in favour of 911 project displaced families of Choutapalli village in Kondapuram mandal which was inundated under Gandikota reservoir in Kadapa district, on the ground that they were at the forefront of an agitation seeking compensation for the displaced in all the 14 affected villages.
Mr. Sarma, in a letter addressed to the Secretary, welcomed issue of G.O. Rt. No. 4 on January 4, 2017, sanctioning a special package of Rs. 479.35 crore to 5,571 project displaced families and 3,525 major sons/daughters of 14 villages declared as affected zone under Gandikota reservoir for their evacuation and impounding of 12 tmcft of water in the reservoir. The former secretary, however, resented cancellation of one-time gratuitous relief under relief and rehabilitation package of Rs. 1 lakh each to 911 project displaced families.
He also addressed letters to Kadapa Collector K.V. Satyanarayana and the National Human Rights Commission stating that the Government did not consider in depth about the implications of the revocation orders. The villagers of Choutapalli were the ones whose houses faced immediate inundation and it was but natural that they should feel threatened and seek relief from the government, he added.
