Within hours of the Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao and Medak MP Kotha Prabhakar Reddy claiming that residents of Etigaddakishtapur and Erravalli have agreed to part with their land, there was strong opposition from the women, who vowed to fight till the end.
In an anti-climax of sorts, after initial breakthrough by the Minister and the MP, there was backlash from the women of the two villagers, who confronted the residents for giving a word to the government to give their lands. There was dramatic development towards the night as the women broke down on hearing that some local people literally ‘surrendered’ to the government. A large number of women gathered at Etigaddakishtapur and condemned the decision.
Earlier in the day, the TRS leadership was confident that the background work done by Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao to clear the hurdles in the construction of Mallannasagar reservoir has started yielding results.
Within 24 hours of Lakshmipur village passing a resolution to hand over land for construction of the reservoir, the residents of Etigaddakishtapur and Erravalli fell in line and agreed to hand over land for the reservoir.
Some land oustees from these two villages had talks with Mr. Harish Rao and Lok Sabha member Kotha Prabahakar Reddy over the issue at Banglavenkatapur on Monday and reached an agreement. The Minister has reportedly promised to pay an amount of Rs. 6 lakh per acre in addition to a double bed-room house. “We will establish Etigaddakishtapur village and adopt it for development,” Mr. Harish Rao told a delegation of land oustees.
Tension at Erravalli
Meanwhile, tension prevailed at Erravalli on Tuesday evening after the news broke spread that an agreement was reached between the villagers and the government. About 300 residents opposing the agreement gathered at the bus stop and confronted those who held talks with the Minister. They raised slogans against them and forced them to leave the village. “We are against the agreement and only handful of people from the village accepted the government offer,” said K. Shivakumar, vice-president of Erravalli village. Police interfered and pacified the agitating villagers.
Mr. Prashanth, one of the activists from Etigaddakishtapur who also participated in the talks with Minister, said that the village youth were against the agreement and the amount offered by the government.
“Many were fed up with the two-month-old agitation and wanted an early settlement,” Mr. Prashanth told The Hindu.
