HYDERABAD: Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti of the Telangana High Court has directed the state government to allot alternate cultivable land to an elderly woman farmer whose two acres were submerged due to the Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP). The court also ordered the authorities to pay her Rs 10 lakh as compensation for loss of agricultural income over two decades and Rs 25,000 towards litigation expenses.
The judge passed the order during the second week of March, while strongly criticising the state’s inaction in implementing rehabilitation benefits. He held that the allotment of alternative land is not merely an administrative relief but a constitutional and human right.
The petitioner, Danthakala Chinnakka alias Chinnamma, a woman in her seventies residing in Nizamabad district, had lost her agricultural land and house in 2006 when her property at Kustapur village in Mallapur mandal of the erstwhile Karimnagar district was submerged.
Although a patta was issued in her favour in a nearby village, she was never given physical possession. After prolonged delays and unfulfilled assurances from the authorities, the petitioner approached the high court in 2016. The court directed the state to hand over physical possession of alternative land within four months.
The court also ordered that the compensation be paid within 16 weeks from the date of receipt of the order.