SIDDIPET: The oustees of Mallannasagar project and the beneficiaries of double-bedroom houses continue to face a plethora of problems even after the change of guard in the state.
Three-and-a-half years ago, the government evacuated the people of 14 villages that faced submersion under the 50 tmcft Mallannasagar project, spread across Dubbak-Gajwel Assembly segments. Before acquiring lands, the officials and people’s representative promised the oustees that they would build a village in another place for them and provide all facilities before asking them to vacate.
However, the government wanted to divert Godavari waters to Mallannasagar reservoir in 2022 itself and forced them to evacuate the village. The officials promised them that till such time the construction of the rehabilitation village was not over, they would be paid a rent of Rs 3,000 per month and then construct double-bedroom houses or allot vacant land to them.
However, the officials shifted them to 2BHKs built for the poor at Mutrajupalli in Gajwel mandal as a temporary arrangement. On February 24, 2022, the then chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao inaugurated the project and promised to release Rs 100 crore to pay compensation due to the oustees. But that promise has not been fulfilled till now.
Pratap Reddy, former sarpanch of Yeti Gadda-Kistapur village, said the officials had promised to resolve the matter immediately when the oustees protested on the Rajiv Rahadari highway on the eve of 2023 Assembly elections, but the promise has not yet been kept. They complained that the officials and public representatives did not pay any attention to their problems.
He said: “As many as 200 oustees have not been given house sites. The R&R package has not been given to 120 people. Now the oustees, accommodated in 2BHKs as an ad hoc measure, are being asked to vacate. Had the government built houses in time for us, we would not have landed in this mess.”
Meanwhile, the beneficiaries of the double-bedroom houses gheraoed former minister T Harish Rao when he went to attend a meeting of activists in Gajwel on Tuesday last.
The oustees said that had Harish attended to their problem when the BRS was in power, they would have been spared of the present ordeal.
When contacted, the RDO said that a survey will be conducted to know how many 2BHKs are vacant and how many people are temporarily staying in them.