Opposition raises pitch for DPR

Jayashanker Bhupalapally: The Opposition leaders demanded that the government make the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Kaleswaram project public. The project was proposed to be executed with an expenditure of Rs 80,000 crore.

The opposition leaders who attended the public hearing, held amid heavy police deployment, at Bhupalpally on Saturday said the public and huge number of farmers who would be affected by the project wanted to know all the details relating to the project. Hence, the government should make the DPR available for public.

Nearly 3,000 farmers from different mandals in Bhupalapally district, the leaders of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Congress and YSRCP attended the hearing chaired by the District Collector A Murali. The hearing passed off peacefully. In view of the chaotic situation that prevailed at the recently held public hearing at Peddapalli, police deployed additional forces and set up checkpoints at all the entry points on the main roads leading to the town to check for trouble makers.

Congress leaders D Sridhar Babu, G Venkata Ramana Reddy, TDP leaders Seethakka, G Satyanarayana Rao, YSRCP leader Appam Kishan and the leaders of Left parties demanded that the government offer compensation as per Land Acquisition Act 2013 to the evacuees.

They said everyone welcomed the project but insisted that the farmers’ interests should be protected. Sridhar Babu complained that farmers were intimidated by the police at check-posts and were not allowed to attend the meeting. The farmers losing their land to the project wanted compensation of Rs 13.5 lakh per acre on par with the compensation offered to the farmers at Goliwada in Ramagundam.

They felt that the hearing should have been held at the villages that were affected by the project, which would give the locals a chance to express their views. Those losing their lands wanted jobs and double bed room houses.