Sripada Sagar irrigation project: 400 families live in hell due to resettlement

KARIMNAGAR: Around 400 families are leading a miserable life at a resettlement and rehabilitation colony after being evacuated from Thallakothapeta village in Velgatur mandal two months ago. They were forced to shift from the village as waters of the Sripada Sagar irrigation project, being constructed at Yellampalli in Ramagundam, flooded their homes on September 17.

As many as 413 families of this sleepy village, situated 55 km away from Karimnagar district headquarters, have been encountering untold hardships ever since they landed in the colony. They are unable to construct homes with the meagre compensation provided by the government. So, they are staying in tin-roofed sheds, braving rains and the cold. Men do not have jobs as their fields were submerged in the backwaters. They are mostly idle and roam around the colony abutting a hillock.

Every woman here has a story of pain. The women bathe in rooms made of tarpaulin. They don't have toilets. Therefore, open defecation is inevitable and they are vulnerable to sexual assaults. At times, they fight with one another as the tiny colony has no sufficient drinking water. Their cattle stay in the open. Often sloth bears, wild boars and snakes enter their colony, posing a threat to their lives thanks to defunct streetlights.

Munda Venkatamma, one of the residents, recollected that they were forcibly vacated from their village on Ganesh Chaturthi day. "Since then, we are facing problems. Should we stay alive or die?" she asked. "We were punished for giving away land for the irrigation project. It is better begging than living here," Mamindla Venkataiah said.

Now, all they want is help from the government for building permanent houses. "We were given a compensation of Rs 70,000 as per the resettlement and rehabilitation package calculated in 2007. But, the cost of construction has increased substantially. So, we need more financial aid from the government," many residents of the colony said.