After a gap of almost six months, the farmers of Gudatipally in Husnabad mandal are in the news again. In the latest instance, they stopped the ongoing works of Gouravelli reservoir on Monday, demanding that payments due to them must be cleared by the government before the completion of reservoir works.
Their contention is that the authorities may not listen to them if the reservoir was completed. About 100 farmers from the village arrived at the bund and stopped the JCB and lorries working at the site.
“Our family had about 10 acres of land. My father U Kanaka Reddy sold away five acres of land. I have another five acres of land on my name, which I have not sold to the government because proper compensation was not extended to us. Despite repeated appeals the government has been failing to pay us all the dues,” said U Anil Reddy of Gudatipally.
“Farmers having a total of about 250 acres have already approached the court seeking justice. Some of the farmers who gave consent for houses were not yet paid compensation. The year 2015 was set as cut-off date for identifying 18-year-olds to get compensation and they were promised a compensation of ₹ 2 lakh in 2015. But that amount was also not paid so far. There are as many as 146 persons eligible for this package,” said Gudatipally sarpanch B Raji Reddy.
Capacity extended
Gouravelli reservoir was proposed more than a decade back with a capacity of 1.5 tmcft by late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy as part of Pranahita- Chevella project and 1,832 acres of land was acquired. However, after coming to power the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) redesigned and enhanced its capacity to 8.4 tmcft. Villagers say that the government has not been offering them houses as the village is not getting submerged.
“The officials will not hear our voice once the work is completed. Hence we have stopped works. We will not allow works till all compensations are paid to us,” Mr. Raji Reddy told The Hindu .
