Villagers, who are on the verge of losing their land to the proposed Thermal Power Plant at Damarcherla, staged a massive dharna on the Addanki-Nareketpally Highway on Sunday, demanding that the Telangana government do justice to them before laying the foundation stone for the project.
GO on compensation sought
Speaking to The Hindu , local Co-operative Bank Chairman D. Narayana Reddy said they would not allow Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to lay the foundation stone until the State government issued a GO regarding compensation and employment to at least one person in every displaced family.
“Neither the elected representatives nor officials from the district administration were in a mood to bring our demands to the notice of the Chief Minister,” he said.
Ash management
Demanding Rs. 20 lakh and Rs. 30 lakh compensation respectively for farmers holding registered and unregistered lands, another villager, B. Suryaya Nayak, said they also had doubts about how the State government was going to manage the ash produced at the plant. The villagers said the Chief Minister had promised to take some villagers to a model thermal power to educate them about how ash could be managed and pollution restricted. “But the State government failed to keep its promise,” he said. The State government has acquired as many as 4,676 acres and two tribal habitations will be completely displaced under the project while 10 other villages will be affected.
Demand that the government compensate them adequately and provide employment to at least one person in every displaced family
