Heavy vehicles are seen moving around here with loads of concrete, cement and sand. Workers, numbering in scores, are busy with laying roads using machinery as construction of the Rehabilitation and Resettlement colony at Mutrajpally on the outskirts is going on at a brisk pace.
The authorities plan to accommodate the oustees of Mallannasagar here. There are about eight villages – Vemulaghat, Etigaddakishtapur, Pallepahad, Rampur, Lakshmapur and Brahmana Banjerpallt in Toguta mandal and Singaram and Erravalli in Kodapaka mandal — that would get submerged in Mallannasagar. Already the oustees of Erravalli, Singaram, Rampur and Lakshmapur have vacated by their villages long back, but have not been accommodated so far as the construction is not complete.
The authorities are yet to complete the construction of houses though it was announced in the past that about 6,000 houses would be built for the oustees. However, the officials later stated that they are constructing only 2,300 houses for them as some of the oustees asked for only plots in the colony and accepted ₹ 5.04 lakh for the construction of houses, offered by the government.
During the course of land acquisition in 2016 from the oustees, officials had promised that within six months the housing project would be completed and they will be asked to vacate their homes only after the keys of new houses are handed over to them. But the reality is different: without completion of houses the oustees have been forced to vacate from Singaram and Erravalli villages. The oustees of other villages also fear being forced to leave without providing any accommodation.
“Officials have repeatedly told us that we will be provided accommodation soon after vacating the village. We came here about three months ago and houses are not yet completed. We do not know how long it will take complete all the houses and hand over the keys to us. It may take more than six months to accommodate all the oustees,” said an oustee from Errvalli, who was put up in temporary accommodation at Sangapur double bedroom houses.
