VIJAYAWADA: Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Bishweswar Tudu has said 1,06,006 families are estimated to be displaced under the Polavaram Irrigation Project (PIP) in Andhra Pradesh. Out of the total displaced, 56,504 families belong to Scheduled Tribes. Of the total 56,504 ST families, 43,689 hail from Alluri Sitarama Raju and 12,815 from Eluru districts, he informed.
In a written reply to a question raised by TDP MP K Ram Mohan Naidu in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, the Union Minister informed that going by the details submitted by the Andhra Pradesh State government, until December, 2013, rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) compensation was given to the project displaced families (PDFs) of PIP as per GoAP OM No 68 dated April 8, 2005.
Thereafter, it is being given as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013. R&R benefits as per the RFCTLARR Act, 2013 work out to be Rs 6.86 lakh per tribal PDF on an average. In addition, tribal PDFs, who lose their land for the project, are being provided land equivalent to the land acquired or 2.5 acres, whichever is lower, along with housing units as per Indira Awas Yojana specifications.
Further, to ensure that they retain their ethnic, linguistic and cultural identity, the tribal PDFs are, as far as possible, being rehabilitated in the scheduled areas, he explained.Stating that the PIP has been declared a national project by the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, he said as per Ministry of Finance OM dated September 30, 2016, with effect from April 1, 2014 the Government of India has been reimbursing to GoAP the expenditure on irrigation component of PIP, including the R&R component as per RFCTLARR Act 2013. However, implementation of the project, including the R&R, is being done by the AP government on behalf of the Centre, he added.
Vizag cruise terminal ready for operations
In response to YSRC MP V Vijayasai Reddy’s query in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy provided information on the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for Tourism. He said the Ministry of Tourism evolved a National Strategy for Cruise Tourism, focusing on infrastructure, circuit enablement, market development and skill development, including AP. Regarding the status of the cruise-cum-coastal cargo terminal in Visakhapatnam and its commencement of operations, Kishan Reddy informed that the terminal has been inaugurated, indicating its readiness for operations.