HYDERABAD: The ‘Bhoo Nirvasithula Deeksha’ held at Dharna Chowk near Indira Park on Friday had a surprise guest who turned heads. In her 70s, the elderly woman was seated in the first row, listening patiently to the farmers who had come from different parts of the State to pour out their woes and fears of getting displaced due to various projects.
Towards the end of the dharna, someone called her on the stage, introducing her as retired district judge Jayasree. This development took everyone by surprise, as she was never seen in the social movements till then. It was even more surprising to know that she had rented a small house in Zaheerabad and has been studying the lives of farmers being affected by the land acquisition for establishing the National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) near Zaheerabad.
“The worrisome societal change being observed in villages is that while farmers who are losing their lands are worried, others living right across the road are happy because the value of their land, which is not being acquired, will go up. Many opportunists are leaving farming and taking to real estate business and many are building resorts there to make business out of the land value boom due to NIMZ,” she said, addressing the farmers.
“All the industrial waste from Patancheru industrial area is being let in the Manjeera River and now, it will also come from Zaheerabad, causing grave threat to humans and animals. If this movement of land oustees doesn’t become a people’s movement, living in Zaheerabad will soon become worse than living in Hyderabad,” she observed.
TJS chief, Prof. M Kodandaram, who reminded the people of December 10 being observed as the Human Rights Day, pointed out that the United Nations treated land as the primary right of farmers, which needed to be protected. The ‘Bhoo Nirvasithula Deeksha’ held at Dharna Chowk near Indira Park on Friday had a surprise guest who turned heads.
In her 70s, the elderly woman was seated in the first row, listening patiently to the farmers who had come from different parts of the State to pour out their woes and fears of getting displaced due to various projects.