SRIKAKULAM: Terming the government’s move of shifting the Vamsadhara project oustees from their villages as ‘forceful eviction’, a Parliamentary delegation of the Left Parties, on Saturday demanded that the authorities must make the full and final settlement prior to the displacement. The delegation comprising CPI Rajya Sabha member D Raja and CPI(M) Lok Sabha member from Kerala M Sampath, visited the project villages of Tulagam and Padali and interacted with the residents.
The evictees poured out their grievances to the delegation members. “Can anybody in this country construct a house at `50,000? This was what I got as a compensation. The officials say that we have to vacate out villages by November second week. I do not know what to do,” complained 50-year-old Appannamma from Tulagam.
Reiterating the same, 55-year-old Varalaxmi said that she was eking out her living by preparing mid-day meal food for schoolchildren. “They are saying that the school will be closed in the next few days. If it happens, how can I run my family?” she said.
D Raja said that the government was evacuating the oustees using the police force which was unfortunate. “The forceful eviction must stop. The government should have made the full and final settlement prior to the evacuation drive. Having lost their land and livelihood, how the evictees will survive?
People say that police are intimidating them. The school teachers are also being threatened to issue the transfer certificates to students. The authorities must stop harassing the villagers,” he told the media at Tulagam. Promising that they will raise the issue on the floor of Parliament, M Sampath said the government has dumped police force in the project villages in an undemocratic manner.