KHAMMAM: The Communist Party of India (CPI), Khammam district committee, on Thursday asked the Government to spell out its stand on the issue of large-scale displacement of tribal communities by the Polavaram project.

Addressing a news conference here, the party's district secretary, Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao, and the Burgumpadu MLA, Payam Venkateswarlu, said the tribals account for over 65 per cent of the people to be affected by the project. Certain primitive tribal groups would be forced to give up habitations.

Submergence issue

They said the tribal communities living on the banks of the Godavari should be spared from the submergence problem. Their rehabilitation and resettlement would be a serious problem. They said the party had organised a 48-hour protest in front of the ITDA office in Bhadrachalam on the issue.

The party had already resolved to intensify the stir in the absence of a positive response from the Government. The submergence problem could be minimized a great deal if the height of the dam was reduced by 14 feet - from 154 to 140 feet. The river waters could be utilised in a much useful manner by going in for small projects upstream.

They said that the Dummugudem project holds hope for not only Khammam district but also for the Rayalaseema districts. They wanted the Godavari water utilisation issue --

particularly with regard to projects such as Dummugudem and Polavaram -- to be debated at all the levels.

They said Dumugudem did not figure in the list of projects the Government wanted to take up on a priority in the first phase. There was no significant progress with regard to the works of the projects announced by the Government either.

Any further delay in the implementation of the projects already announced would cost the faith reposed by the people in the Government. The CPI leaders asked the district administration to consider distribution of the lands available in the towns to the weaker sections instead of leaving them to land-grabbers. They also sought an action plan for the development of slums, which were fast growing in Khammam, Kothagudem and other towns in the district.

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