The tribals of K. Gadhabapalem village of Anakapalli district staged a protest near the statue of Alluri Sitharama Raju in their village on March 6 (Wednesday), deploring district administration’s “inordinate delay” in the implementation of the orders of the Chairman of Andhra Pradesh ST Commission directing Anakapalli Collector to probe into the issue of omission of their names from land resurvey.
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The Adivasi Khond tribes, holding copies of their land pattas, raised slogans seeking justice. They said that 12 families belonging to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) were given land pattas in Ramannadorapalem and Gadhabapalem villages of Kotnibilli panchayat of Ravikamatham mandal in 1975 and in 1988, 30 other families were given D-pattas for the lands they were cultivating. However, during the Jagananna land resurvey, their names were missing from the records, they said.
The tribals brought the issue to the attention of the Revenue officials, who assured them a survey would be done. But even after a year, the survey was not done, they said.
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Following this, the victims brought the issue to the notice of the ST Commission Chairman during his visit to Golugonda mandal in Anakapalli district. The Commission Chairman then directed the Anakapalli Collector, on February 19, to order a probe into their complaint and submit a report to him within 16 days. However, the tribals say that none have come to their village to conduct the probe so far.
CPI(M) district secretariat member K. Govinda Rao said that the tribals were cultivating paddy, sugarcane, and cashews on their land. Since their pattas were cancelled during the Jagananna Resurvey, they were denied e-crop numbers for their lands, thereby hindering their ability to obtain bank loans.
They sought the Collector immediately order a probe and do justice to them, failing which they would protest at the Collector’s Office at Anakapalli on March 11.