SIDDIPET: There is a popular saying among the Havasupai Apache Indians in the United States, a people displaced repeatedly by various development projects: “Land is like diamonds but money is like ice”. Back home in Telangana, the saying could help explain why despite receiving compensations worth more than Rs 1 crore, oustees continue to demand land in exchange for land, instead of the compensation.
Under the recently expedited distributions of Rehabilitation and Resettlement packages to oustees of the Mallanna Sagar project, many interesting incidents have come up. It seems that families with children above 18 years of age, at the time of receiving the compensation, are benefiting more than others. And yet, the beneficiaries remain dissatisfied and hope for an agricultural land instead of housing plots or 2 BHK residences.
For instance, Teegulla Sattaiah, a resident of Laxmapur village in Siddipet’s Thoguta mandal, has three grown-up sons. As part of the compensation for Sattaiah’s one-acre plot, he was given Rs 7.5 lakh in compensation, along with a 250-sq yard plot, with an estimated land value of Rs 30 lakh. His three sons will also receive Rs 5 lakh compensation and 250-sq yard plots, each. The total compensation received by the family then becomes nearly Rs 1.12 crore.
While the number may sound phenomenal, the reality is a little more complex. Firstly, Sattaiah says the land parcels being handed out are located close to Gajwel’s education hub and there is time before the plot reaches the said value.
Further, as an agricultural background, Sattaiah and his family are not as adept at managing neither cash nor real estate. “It is still painful that we will no longer have land for agriculture,” he told Express. Studies carried out at the Srisailam and Lower Manair dam projects in the united Andhra Pradesh area, have also confirmed that in the long run, a land-based resettlement — meaning a “land-for-land” approach — may be more beneficial since land is the key to reestablishment and contributes to cultural security. In this case, the land provided by the government is residential and different from the agricultural land taken away from the oustees.
Besides, a sudden influx of cash among traditional communities is known to have severe side effects on the lifestyle of a population, giving them a false impression of wealthiness.
As a result, gambling and drinking can increase to unprecedented levels, as it did in case of the Tamang community of Markhu, Nepal.
A displaced person may find it difficult to acquire comparable land with the compensation money because of limited land market or higher value of land in the relocated area, where prices can double or even triple almost overnight.
And the costs for relocating, transporting, salvaging building materials, and so on also add to the financial strain on the resettlers.
A resident of Thoguta’s Banjarually village, Alwala Mallaiah also has three sons, with a total compensation of nearly Rs 1 crore, told Express, “It would still have been better if the government had purchased one acre of agricultural land in the neighbouring village.” Meanwhile, the other oustees nodded in agreement.
Oustees felicitate officials with shawls
Mallanna Sagar oustees on Tuesday felicitated with garlands and shawls, the officials who came to distribute compensation cheques in Pallepahad village. Collectors D Krishna Bhasker and P Venkatram Reddy of Siddipet and Rajanna Sircilla respectively arrived for the distribution of compensation cheques