NALGONDA: Ramavat Sevya relocated from Guvvala Gutta and the backwaters of Nagarjunasagar dam to Krishna Tanda some 50 years ago. At that time, Sevya and many others had been promised that they would get irrigation water. The then government dug a canal but Sevya never got irrigation water.
Like him, there are around 1,500 tribals in Gurramgodu and Krishna tandas in Pedaveedu village in Mattapalli mandal in Nalgonda district who continue to be deprived of irrigation water.
Adding fuel to the fire, in the last few years, around several cement factories came up within a 10-km radius of their hamlets, compelling them to live in polluted environs.
Now, these tribals are worried about a thermal power plant that is coming up 0.9 km away from their tanda. Tribals fear that their cup of woes would only increase once the thermal plant becomes operational.
“We had relocated from Guvvala Gutta tanda some 50 years ago. The government promised everything under the sky. Yet, we are not getting irrigation water as assured. We are not getting even safe drinking water. The government dropped a bomb shell that a thermal power plant would come up near our tanda. Is this the way to treat the tribals?” asks Ramavat Sevya.
The sorry tale of the tribals in Pedaveedu is no different from those at Sompet in Andhra Pradesh or Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu. The tribals have launched a relentless fight against the thermal power plant proposed near the tanda.
The government hurriedly sanctioned power plant to increase the power generation capacity to meet the ever-increasing power demand, ignoring the plight of locals who even got into confrontation with the police recently. However, a tense situation prevails in the area while the police registered cases and the protests continue.
In 2013, the government of undivided Andhra Pradesh sanctioned a thermal power plant to come up at Pedaveedu village in Mattapalli mandal in Nalgonda district. The public hearing, to receive objections and suggestions, if any, for the same was conducted in September this year.
Locals feared losing their livelihood and their very existence in the village, particularly two tribal hamlets, Gurramgodu and Krishna tandas. The power plant is coming up nearly an 0.9 km away from one of the tandas - Krishna tanda.
Now, the villagers are protesting against the plant and also demanding lifting of police cases against them.
But, the fate of tribals in Gurramgodu and Krishna tandas was worse than the fate of Sompet and Kudankulam fishermen. The tribals in these two hamlets were relocated from the backwaters of Nagarjunasagar irrigation project (NSP) to Pedaveedu village some 50 years ago. Then, the officials assured them NSP water. The officials dug a canal but the tribals have never get water in the last 50 years.
Now, like several other villages in Nalgonda district, people in these two tribal hamlets too take water with heavy fluoride content.
“There are around 70 persons of 1,500 population in the two tandas getting pension meant for the physically-challenged from the government. All of them were affected due to fluoride. Another 20 persons are awaiting their turn to get the pension under the same category,” ward member Sakka Naik disclosed.
“Once the power plant is commissioned, we cannot live here and have to migrate to some other place,” the villagers lamented. During their relocation from NSP, the tribals were shown a forest in Pedaveedu for cultivation.
“I cut the forest and made the lands arable. If the thermal plant pollutes our hamlet, where can we go now?,” said an elderly man who was young when he was relocated from NSP.
The youngsters in the village are also victims of fee reimbursement scheme of the previous government. The two tiny hamlets have one MTech and 15 engineering graduates, besides 70 graduates of other streams. They do not have skills and have not got jobs.
The blessing in disguise is that they can understand the dangers of environmental impact to be created by a thermal plant. These youths are up in arms against the plant.