KAKINADA: After several agitations held by the tribal people, the state government is currently in a mood to sort out the problems of the 440 Polavaram Project Displaced Families among the tribals and involving 426 acres of land for compensation.
The government has issued a Preliminary Notification for 300 acres, to give it to the PDFs of tribal people under land-to-land compensation scheme for the project. The authorities have identified the land selected by the tribals.
However the PDFs have opposed the land of 100 acres at Lakkonda as they felt this is too far from their residential colonies.
The government has issued a notification to acquire the lands at Neladonelapadu, Rajavaram, Jaggannapalem, Rajupeta Loddi and Lakkonda in Gangavaram mandal. “All lands except Lakkonda are existing at a distance of 5 to 6km, but Lakkonda is too far, some 20km from the rehabilitation colony and the PDFs will face hardships to go and come to the fields’’ said the Agency Girijana Sangam president Illa Ramireddy.
He requested the authorities to change the land and show other land to the PDFs nearby their residential colonies.
Special Collector for Polavaram Project, E Murali, said an agreement was reached to settle the compensation issue years ago, and the PDFs have proposed some lands for them as compensation. The government has identified the lands in places where they proposed and decided to give those to them as compensation. A Preliminary Notification has been issued for 300 acres and the government released Rs 43 crore for the purpose, he said.
According to sources, the people of Kondamodalu Panchayat have staged several agitations and they have refused to vacate the villages during the flood and cyclone periods also. They have gone to nearby hillocks to save their lives from floods, when their villages were inundated.
Though the officials made several appeals to them to vacate the area, and that they would be provided with shelter, the people have not believed in these promises due to the bad experiences of the PDFs of other villages.
Now the tribal people of the villages have appealed to the government to complete the compensation process to all the PDFs relating to 426 acres of land as early as possible and give peace of mind to them.
