SIDDIPET: Bailampur village in Siddipet district looks like any another mofussil village in Telangana. But if the government has its way, the village will vanish soon, submerged by the Konda Pochamma reservoir. Located around 50 km away from Hyderabad, Bailampur has been a thorn in the side of the TRS government for its decision to displace thousands of people from their home and acquire their farms.
Since late 2016, when the government issued a notification for the acquisition of land in Bailampur, the village has become a bastion of opposition directed against the TRS government. The farmers, many of whom have already lost their land, have been demanding compensation as per the Land Acquisition Act 2013. Some of these farmers have been waging a legal battle in courts.
For the government, the reservoir has become a matter of prestige since Gajwel constituency, where it is located, was represented in the previous Assembly by none other that the caretaker Chief Minister and TRS chief, K Chandrasekhar Rao.
On its part, the government has tried to pressure the farmers into transferring ownerships of their lands and homes. In the beginning, there were around eighteen farmers such as Mulugu MPP Venkatram Reddy who were defiant and did not accede to the government’s wishes. However, many have caved under increasing pressure from the authorities. Now it is just five farmers - Venkatram Reddy, Shyam Sunder Reddy, M Sridhar Rao, M Illaiah and Bayyanagari Prameela - who are keeping this one-sided fight alive.
The Juggernaut
The governmental machinery has shown no signs of relenting to the opposition. It has been getting farmers to sign away both their agricultural lands and houses. The construction work on the reservoir has been going on steadily. In fact, the mud being used for the work has been dug up from these acquired lands. Of course, the 40 acres of land belonging to the aforementioned farmers have not been touched yet. These small parcels of land are the last remaining signs of Bailampur’s previous carefree existence. The rest of the village is now owned by the government. This fact has been made amply clear by the authorities who have written on the walls of acquired houses, in large print, that they own them now and that the dues have been cleared.
The five farmers know that their fight is a difficult one. Meanwhile, the government has claimed that the reservoir would be ready by the next month.