In a way, the Jainad mandal Revenue officials qualify for a record of sorts in corrupt practices having issued pattadar passbooks for lands which constitute the reservoir bed of the three-decade-old Satnala medium irrigation project in Adilabad district.
The farmers, who were given the passbooks on about 100 acres of land which is always submerged under water, are drawing crop loans for the last four years.
Adilabad Joint Collector K. Krishna Reddy and Irrigation officials including District Irrigation Officer Sushil Kumar Deshpande were surprised to learn about the fact. Some villagers and fishermen had complained about the phenomenon during their visit to the project last month.
The Government had acquired over 1,640 acres of land for the project way back in the 1970s to construct the project which aimed at irrigating about 24,000 acres in Jainad mandal. The villages of Toiguda and Mangurla went under submergence when the dam came into being.
“Some of the farmers, who had sold their lands to the Government for the project, freshly acquired pattadar passbooks. They are drawing crop loans as well as derived benefit of crop loan waiver though no cultivation has taken place or can take place in the reservoir bed,” explained a Revenue official.
The Telangana Grameena Bank however, denied knowledge of the issue. They said that the bank issues loans based on documents available with the farmers.
Mr. Krishna Reddy told The Hindu that an inquiry has been ordered and those guilty of the misdemeanour will be suitably punished. “We will also ask bank concerned to cancel the loans obtained by the farmers,” he added.
Meanwhile, fishermen from Mangurla, Ramai and Mediguda have complained that a few young fishermen from Mediguda village are resorting to catching very small sized fish instead of the larger ones.
“The small fish need time to grow to a weight of at least one kilogram and if all of them are taken away we will not have any catch left in Satnala next season,” pointed out Bavne Ramdas of Mangurla village.
The medium irrigation project reservoir supports over 200 fishermen families in ekeing out a livelihood. Last monsoon, the Fisheries Department had released about 6 lakh fingerlings which will grow to a good size by October this year.
