Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao’s public meeting at Utnoor on Sunday will be known better for the absence of Adivasis than the crossing over of a large group of Telangana TDP leaders and cadres from the four districts which hitherto constituted undivided Adilabad.
Though Utnoor is located in Adilabad district, it is the headquarters of all matters relating to tribal people in the four districts, which is why the absence of Adivasis stood out like a sore thumb.
The estimated 3,000 non-tribals from Utnoor and other nearby places, who had assembled for meeting, however, did not seem to be a happy a lot either. They had come there to listen to the Minister promising them a redressal of their problem which stem in the AP Land Transfer Regulation Act 1959 and its Amendment Act 1 of 1970.
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Problem mentioned
Mr. Harish Rao did make a mention of their ‘problem’ in his over 20 minute speech but it lacked in clarity. He just said that the problem faced by non-tribals like not getting pahani for the lands they were tilling since long would be taken to the notice of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
As for joining of the TTDP cadre, no one was sure as to the number of political workers and leaders jumping onto the ruling TRS bandwagon during the event. The Minister welcomed about four people from one group and there did not seem many waiting near the dais of the programme to make a calculated guess.
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Kupti project
Mr. Harish Rao nevertheless, spoke at length on irrigation development in Adilabad district. He announced that the Kupti project will be given administrative sanction soon with an outlay of ₹ 744 crore.
He criticised the Congress for raking up the issue of cotton pricing though about 85 % of farmers got minimum support price at Adilabad market yard.
Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna, Housing Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy, Adilabad MP G. Nagesh, government whip Nallala Odelu, Khanapur MLA A. Rekha Naik, Mancherial MLA N. Diwakar Rao, Asifabad MLA Kova Laxmi, MLC Puranam Satish, government representative in New Delhi S. Venugopalachary, government Advisor G. Vivek and party leaders Ramesh Rathod and Ravindhar Rao also attended.