Ramavath Chandu is in his 60s and walks barefoot. On Monday he along with another 50 fellow farmers travelled three hours covering 100 km, from his native Bachepally in Kalher mandal, to reach the Collectorate in Sangareddy.
They wanted to meet the Collector and pour out their woes about how the land they had been tilling for generations has now been shifted to Part B (land under dispute) denying them the benefits from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi government’s flagship welfare schemes — Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bima. To their dismay the Collector was away and they were forced to hand over their petition to some officials who were present.
During the process of purification of land records the farmers of Bachepally suddenly found that the land they were enjoying for generations had been shifted to Part B because of differences between Forest and Revenue departments. Consequently the farmers were not issued fresh passbooks for 493.29 acres land in Survey 91 and they have also been denied benefits like Rythu Bandhu.
Following repeated appeals of the farmers, the district administration conducted a survey few months ago and the report was submitted a few weeks ago. However, the revenue officials says that the survey report was quite contrary to the ground situation and names of those who are not in possession of land was listed in the new survey. As a result the mandal revenue officials informed their superiors that there was a need to conduct a resurvey before finalising and issuing new patta certificates to the farmers.
Unable to get their problems addressed locally, Mr. Ramavath Chandu along with several other farmers came to the district headquarters for the weekly grievance day, but were unlucky as the Collector was away.
“We are unable to get any benefits since long and our repeated appeals are not yielding any results. Now the officials are saying that a resurvey was needed as the recent survey was not proper. We do not know when it will be completed. We came here to meet the Collector and present our case,” said Ms. Lakshmi, one of farmers.
“There is a need to resurvey the lands and issue pass books to the right owners. At the same time as the entire work has been put on hold for the implementation of the new Revenue Act we are not sure when it will be completed,” said an official.
