SIDDIPET: The oustees from Mallanna Sagar submergence villages complain that officials are paying compensation to those who settled in the USA about 60 years ago after considering them as locals but not the people who are living in villages Sarpanch Pratap Reddy of Etigadda Kistapuram, a submergence village under the Mallanna Sagar project, said that the officials who evicted the village promised to pay the house rent for six months and the compensation would be paid within a month of people vacating the village.
He warned that the authorities should pay all the pending compensation to Etigadda Kistapuram villagers within 10 days, failing which they would lay siege to the Collectorate.
The oustees held a special meeting under the leadership of Pratap Reddy at R&R Colony in Gajwel town on Monday regarding their problems. In this meeting, the oustees questioned why the authorities, who recognized those who had left the village 60 years ago as locals and paid them all kinds of compensation, showed discrimination against those who remained in the village till the end.
He said that 150 people who completed 18 years of age had not received the R&R package and so also 120 single women and single men who were 65 years of age.
He said that officials promised to pay rent for six months if the villagers vacated at the time of completion of the project, but till now the cheques related to the rent money were not handed over.
Oustees complained that the ‘authorities treat those they like in one way and those they don’t like in another way’. They complained that the officials who said they would give compensation to the oustees within a month of leaving the village were not paying attention even after two and a half years, and they were not paying attention even though they were visiting the officials to remind them of the compensation due to them.
Pratap Reddy warned the officials against testing their patience for too long. They warned that they would lay siege to the collector’s office if they didn’t give all the compensation due to the oustees of Etigadda Kishtapuram within 10 days. Oustees also alleged that the various construction works going on in the R&R Colony are of inferior quality as a result of collusion between the contractor and the authorities.