Vizag: Panchagramalu land issue takes centre stage

Visakhapatnam: The long pending ‘Simhachalam Panchagramalu’ (five villages) land issue will impact some of the constituencies in the ensuing elections.

For decades, the land issue in the region persisted. Thousands of families live in the five villages Venkatapuram, Purushothapuram, Vepagunta, Adavivaram and Cheemalapalli. The residents have been suffering due to the unresolved issue.

Even as the then TDP government (between 2004 and 2009) provided respite to the issue to an extent by releasing the GO 578 to regularise the lands, not many utilised the opportunity. However, the Congress government that came to power in 2009 withheld the GO.

The panchagramalu are branched into different constituencies. They include parts of Bheemunipatnam, Visakhapatnam West, Visakhapatnam North and Pendurthi constituencies.

Every political party that came to power has been promising the people to resolve the issue. For decades, their assurances remained unmet. Despite the ‘Panchagramalu’ issue pending in the High Court, political parties wield this as a potential weapon during elections. Just before the polls, the leaders of political parties campaign that once they come to power, the issue would see a happy ending. However, it never came true.

Before coming to power in 2019, YSRCP too made a promise of resolving the ‘Panchagramalu’ issue of Simhachalam. The YSRCP government constituted a high-power committee headed by the Endowments Minister. The government expanded the committee including MPs V Vijayasai Reddy and BV Satyavathi, Bheemunipatnam MLA Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao and Pendurthi MLA Annamreddy Adeep Raj as members.

The ‘Panchagramalu’ issue played a key role in the last elections of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and the TDP secured victory in a majority of wards.

Coming down heavily on the ruling party, former minister and senior TDP leader Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy said the YSRCP has no intention to resolve the problem. During the TDP's rule, two GOs were issued to regularise the lands occupied by the locals across the five villages.

Availing GO 578, a number of residents could get the land regularisation certificates. Again, in 2014, the TDP government issued GO 296 after taking a decision in the State Cabinet meeting to sort out the problem. The YSRCP legal cell representatives approached the court to halt the procedure. However, a permanent solution to this could be made possible only by the TDP, he added.

Earlier, over 11,000 occupants were identified in the survey conducted across ‘Panchagramalu’. An alternative land was also identified to handover lands to the Simhachalam Devasthanam at Prahladapuram, Koduru and Padmanabham.

With the election season on, the major political parties are focusing on the issue to grab the attention of the voters.