Andhra Pradesh - Anantapur   

APIIC charged with taking over fertile lands

ANANTAPUR: A joint committee of civil rights bodies has alleged that Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) has taken over the fertile farming lands in nine villages of Chilamattur and Hindupur mandals in the district forcibly from the farmers for developing a special economic zone.

A team of representatives of AP Civil Liberties Committee, Organisation for Protection of Democratic Rights, Human Rights Forum, Lambadi Hakkula Porata Samithi and AP Rythu Coolie Sangham visited Koduru, Kotlapalli, Morampalli, Diguvapalli thanda and Anjali thanda in Chilammatur mandal and Gollapalli in Hindupur mandal and elicited information from the farmers.

The team also collected details from the Tahsildar of Chilamattur mandal. The official had told the committee that about 2,000 acres of land was being taken over by the APIIC for industrial needs and about 1,700 acres of it was assigned land. However, the fact was that the lands being claimed as assignment lands were in cultivation since 1920s.

The committee alleged that the Government was eyeing only lands of Dalits and tribals in the area. There were about 1,000 families living in Diguvapalli and Anjali thadas and another 100 Dalit families in Koduru and Kotlapalli villages. The Government action would unsettle the tribals and Dalits who will once again become gypsies. The civil rights bodies would oppose this, it said.

Lands of the landlords and other well-to-do farmers were spared willingly by the Government while those belonging to the weaker sections were taken over. The panel members abhorred officials’ contention that there should not be any problem to the families being displaced as the Government was paying compensation to them.

About 150 families living in Golla village were all Dalits and agriculture was their mainstay. The family of Dalita Gangappa in the village with three sons was eking out a living by cultivating four acres of land. The family would now be thrown on to the road.

K. Nageswarachary of APCLC, M. Srinivasulu and K. Yesanna of OPDR, Basha of HRF, Sriram Naik and Ramachandra Naik of LHPS and B. Ramakrishna Reddy of APRCS comprised the committee.

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