The tribal people are not opposed to tourism promotion but any attempt to deprive them of their livelihood in the name of development will be opposed tooth and nail, former Minister P. Balaraju has said.
The former Minister staged a day-long protest here on Friday, demanding justice to the tribal people of Lammasingi (Lambasingi), whose fields were acquired by the government for construction of tourist resorts.
Mr. Balaraju said that the evacuees who were earlier cultivating maize and beans on the land were neither paid compensation nor promised employment by the government. The land was taken from tribal farmers two years ago but they were not given alternative land nor paid compensation.
No response to plea
“I have submitted a representation to District Collector on December 22 last year, but there has been no response. It is unfortunate that the elected representatives, instead of standing by the victims, are supporting the government. We will continue to exert pressure on the government until justice is done to the tribal people,” he said.
Former Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar decried the destruction of the environment in the name of development.
He called for a united struggle by all parties to stop destruction of the hills in the name of mining and demanded an immediate end to the laterite mining in the Agency areas.
Mr. Manohar recalled that when the Congress was in power, mining was stopped. But, the Telugu Desam government had permitted laterite mining, claiming that it would result in contamination of groundwater resources in the surrounding villages. Earlier, Mr. Manohar visited the foothills of the laterite mining area and interacted with the locals.
Water contamination
P. Venkateswarlu and Ramana of Peddabarada village said that the water of an eternal spring atop the hill, on which mining was being done, at Siripuram, had been contaminated and the yield had been decreased after the mining taken up atop the hill a few months ago.
A former MPP U. Lakshmaiah said that mining was done at the foot of the hill two years ago but also abandoned subsequently. A kutcha road was laid to the hill top a few months ago and since then, mining was done on the hill. An excavator was working and around 40 lorry tippers were moving the material (laterite) down the hill, mostly at night.
