Polavaram: Affected villagers plan agitation to get fair compensation, benefits

Kakinada: The families affected by the mega Polavaram Irrigation Project have decided to launch agitations in multiple ways to achieve their demands and get justice. The families say they are in dire straits and have not been given fair compensation.

The government has not fulfilled the promises made to them via the Rehabilitation, Relief and Resettlement Packages. Worse, surveys were conducted in improper ways to list the number of the tribal people affected by the project and those among them who have completed age 18 for the right to take the benefits.

Some of the villagers have vacated their homes and moved to nearby hills and other places due to submergence threat to these villages arising out of the flow of backwaters from the cofferdam to the Polavaram Project.

“We made a mistake by vacating our villages due to fear of flooding. Now, we are being shown in a bad light. We want to come back to our villages and decide whether to live or die,’’ said a villager of Devipatnam mandal.

Some victims have staged dharnas in front of Devipatnam Tahsildar's office four days back and plan agitations from Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in the Chinturu ITDA limits, people felt the survey had not been conducted properly in Yetapaka division. People said the government has not disclosed how many villages will be submerged and how many will be the victims in Yetapaka division under Polavaram Project area, whereas the survey has been completed in Kukkunuru and Velerupadu villages in West Godavari district.

It is said that 46 villages could be affected under 45.32 to 56.08 contour in Yetapaka division and steps are being taken for giving the victims the R&R package in Kunavaram and VR Puram mandals soon, an official said.