Nagarkurnool: Palamuru Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation Vattem reservoir oustees relaunch padayatra

Nagarkurnool: After a gap of 20 days, the oustees of Vattem reservoir, which is being constructed as part of the Palamuru Ranga Reddy Lift Irrigation project, have once again started their padayatra from Bijinepally mandal in Nagarkunool district to Hyderabad on Monday.

More than 300 people including farmers, women and youngsters have taken up the padayatra in a protest against the State government for not releasing pending dues of compensation. They alleged that the State government was treating the people of Palamuru differently from those of rest of the State as the government failed to provide equitable compensation to different persons under different irrigation projects.

For instance, the land oustees of Mallannasagar were being paid up to Rs 10 to 12 lakh per acre of land lost under the project, while those under PRRLI project were being paid Rs 4.5 to 5.5 lakh. "On one hand, the government is forcibly taking away lands from farmers by adopting threatening tactics and on the other, it is also not paying the rightful compensation to them in time.

Moreover, we have observed that government was paying more amounts of compensation to farmers losing lands under projects in northern Telangana than compared to those in southern part of the State. Particularly, the PRRLI project oustees in erstwhile Mahbubnagar have been completely subjected to injustice as the contractors have already started construction works in the lands while the farmers are yet to receive their full compensation," said Paramesh Goud, CPI General Secretary, Mahbubnagar district, while supporting the padayatra.

In fact, earlier, the Vattem reservoir oustees had taken up the padayatra 20 days ago to reach Hyderabad and had decided to lay siege to Pragati Bhavan, the official residence of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. However, they were stopped by the police and with the intervention of Nagarkurnool MLA Marri Janardhan Reddy, who asked for some time to resolve their problem, the agitating farmers relented. But even after 20 days passed, neither the MLA nor the district administration had taken any concrete steps to resolve their issues. As a result, the farmers who lost their lands relaunched their padayatra.

Meanwhile, the police deployed forces in Timmajipet and Jadcherla mandal to stop the agitating farmers from reaching Hyderabad. "They asked us to give some time, we gave them 20 days. They failed to take any concrete step towards resolving our problem. We realised that they are trying to delay and follow delaying tactics. This time we will not relent. Come what may, we will fight for equitable compensation," said the agitating farmers.