In a glaring instance of caste discrimination, sewage of an entire village has been channeled to be emptied into the field of a Dalit man, in the Jayashankar Bhupalapally district.
Gurram Lingaiah, the victim from SC sub-caste, along with other affected farmers from Edlapalli village of Malharrao mandal, approached the authorities with a petition seeking redress, but officials have thrown up their hands saying it was fait accompli.
Gurram Ashok, son of Mr.Lingaiah, alleges that as per the original proposal, the main line carrying waste water from 400-500 households was to be routed to a water body nearby, while a line from the SC section of the village was to join the main line mid way.
“It was changed citing a small shrine of a village goddess on the way, notwithstanding the fact that the drainage canal was routed along the side of the temple, and would not have touched it. They did not want our drainage to flow into the main line, that’s why diverted the canal to flow through our colony into our field,” said Mr. Ashok, who is a research scholar from the University of Hyderabad.
Paying little heed to several complaints raised during its construction, the drainage line has been successfully routed into the one acre land of Mr. Lingaiah, which could impact his livelihood irreversibly.
Mr. Ashok has charged the village sarpanch, who is also a Dalit, but from the powerful sub-caste, with wilful discrimination aided by public representatives and officials.
In his complaint to the Additional Collector (Local Bodies), he said all the affected were marginal farmers from SC, ST and BC sections, who would suffer due to drainage set to flow into their fields adjacent to Lingaiah’s.
Additional Collector T.S. Divakara, who received the complaint and conducted field inspection, said the natural gradient for the sewage was towards Mr. Lingaiah’s plot, and hence it was directed there. There was no malicious or discriminatory intent, he affirmed and said reorientation of the canal involved huge expenditure.
“From the district administration, I have promised construction of a diversion just before the sewage enters his field, but he is not willing for the same citing stench,” Mr. Divakara said.
Mr. Ashok disagrees saying that there were eight natural gradients for the flow, as can be seen from the eight water bodies around the village, and none of these were even close to Lingaiah’s plot where sewage is being dumped.
“Diversion has been done despite our protests. Even otherwise, how can they plan to let village sewage into private land?” wonders Mr. Ashok.
