In what could be termed as an aggressive approach, the district administration has sent revenue teams to Etigaddakishtapur on Tuesday and got about 50 acres registered to the government for the construction of Mallannasagar reservoir. The lands were registered to the mandal revenue officer under GO 123.
This was third consecutive day of getting lands registered from this village, which was once epic centre for agitation against the proposed construction of Mallannasagar reservoir.
Last month, the village also hosted two-day dharna by A. Revanth Reddy, working president of the Telangana Telugu Desam Party.
“Our strength to continue the struggle has weakened and we are unable to continue it, which was waged for about three months. About 700 acres farm land was already purchased by the government and we are hearing that everyone is in queue to sell the lands. Nowhere to go and not having any assurance about future, we are surrendering and handing over lands to the government,” said D. Anji Reddy, who was one among the farmers came forward to register lands to the government.
He is registering about eight acres land to the government.
These were the same villagers who came all the way to Sangareddy travelling about 100 kilometres to lodge a complaint with the district Collector that they want compensation under Land Acquisition Act- 2013.
No going back
However, there are people like Chetyala Umma Reddy who are still ready to continue their fight instead of surrendering to the government. They even went to Hyderabad and are getting ready to wage a legal fight against the government demanding rightful compensation for them in land acquisition.
“There are still scores of people opposing surrender of land under GO 123. We are not ready to hand over land,” Mr. Umma Reddy told The Hindu .
Presently the village is divided into three sections: those in favour of registering lands to the government under GO 123, those opposing to surrender land demanding compensation under the Land Acquisition Act- 2013 and the youth who motivated the villagers.
“We are at cross roads and have to follow a path that would benefit oustees of all the 14 villages instead of few. But fighting against a mighty force like the government is not a small thing and land oustees need a lot of support. They are signing with fear over their future,” said G. Bhaskar, convenor of Mallannasagar Porata Samithi.
