The statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the entry point stands witness to the transformation the village has seen in the recent past. This village is in Kondapaka mandal of Gajwel constituency, represented by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, is soon going to disappear from the map and be submerged under Mallannasagar.
The village has about 200 houses with a population of about 600 persons. This village has some 400-year history. The residents say the village was founded on an Inam given to a family some 400 years ago. The family that was given the Inam settled here with five families and slowly it grew to its current status.
“My ancestors were the first family to come here some 400 years ago. My forefather was given the inam for the land and he brought along another four families from different sections of society and established this village. The village today has some 900 acres of farm land,” an elderly resident of the village Ghulam Ghouse Mohiduddin Iqbal told The Hindu .
“The government acquired the lands along with all the houses in our village. It is to the credit of all the residents of the village that not one court case was filed against the land acquisition process,” Mr. Iqbal added.
During last week, the villagers went to Mutrajpally to inspect the houses that were being built for them in the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Colony. The officials told them that it may take another three months to complete the houses allocated to them and suggested that they vacate the village and shift to temporary accommodation at Sangapur. However, the villagers are reluctant to move from the village. They say they would prefer to wait and shift to their permanent residences instead of going through the additional strain and expenditure of shifting twice.
“The officials are yet to provide water connection, drain and power. We are asking them to provide power and water connection. The sewerage system can be established in due course. In the meanwhile pits can be dug and septic tanks built using concrete rings,” Mr. Iqbal said.
He was the first one in the village to give up 60 acres of family lands to the government for the construction of Mallannasagar and the family has invested the entire amount in Hyderabad instead of looking to reinvest in farm lands. “I have become a zero acre farmer from a landlord owning 60 acres in the village. We bought property in Hyderabad instead of agriculture lands as the present generation is not ready to take up farming,” he added.
