For the first time since the villages in Kerameri mandal of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district became part of a territorial dispute between Telangana (earlier Andhra Pradesh) and Maharashtra in 1956, the State government is seemingly keen to work towards organised development of the place. A team of revenue officials led by Joint Collector Ashok Kumar and Kerameri Tahsildar Rajeshwari and Forest Range Officer S. Mazharuddin, among others, visited Lendiguda, Gowri, Bolapathar, Anthapur and Isapur villages on Sunday, interacted with the locals, and noted down the problems and issues faced by them.
Half the villages, Bolapatar, Isapur, Anthapur, Gowri, Arkepalli and Paraswada, are part of Anthapur grama panchayat and the remaining, Karanjiwada, Anarpally, Lakhmapur, Kota, Parandoli and Jankapur, are part of Parandoli grama panchayat. These villages, located at highly depleted forest hills in the northeastern part of Kerameri, bordering Jivti taluk in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra, have not been identified with clarity with either of the States. This has led to both Maharashtra and Telangana claiming the territory as their part. A case is pending in Supreme Court since a long time.
“Now, we want to understand the topography and problems of the people, especially with respect to land,” the Joint Collector said, talking about the purpose of the visit of Revenue Department officials. During the Land Records Purification campaign last year, it turned out that all the lands assigned to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe people in these villages were actually forest land and there existed no boundary demarcating each village. Therefore, another major task for the team was to determine the boundaries. “In the first step, we will try to clear the matter on territorial dispute with Maharashtra and later conduct survey for fixing forest boundaries as well. Through interaction with the villagers we will get to know the issues faced by them, which will help us in charting out a course,” Mr. Ashok Kumar said.
The plan to prepare a report with focus on development was the brain child of district Collector Prashant J. Patil. The report will be sent to the government at a later stage. Meanwhile, problems like drinking water shortage and non-payment of wages under the NREGS came to the notice of the visiting officials at Lendiguda and Bolapatar. The team also gathered that the area was not serviced by Mission Bhagiratha.
