SANGAREDDY: “What wrong have I done?” asks E Bakka Reddy. “Is it right for them to make a poor farmer spend decades going around government offices? How can this be justified?” he says, the “them” referring to officials of various departments.
Every few months, Bakka Reddy folds his bundle of yellowing papers, boards a bus from his village and heads to yet another government office. His voice betrays years of frustration as he recounts the familiar routine. The district collector’s office sends him to the revenue divisional officer. The RDO asks him to meet the tahsildar. The tahsildar points him towards the Roads & Buildings (R&B) department.
“This has been my life for nearly five decades,” says the farmer from Mogadampalli mandal in the Zaheerabad constituency. He says the government acquired nearly two acres of his family’s land when the Zaheerabad-Chincholi road was laid in the late 1970s.
His father, convinced that the government would honour its promise, spent years visiting offices with land records and petitions. He died before receiving compensation.
The compensation claim has outlived one generation and is now being pursued by the next. Now around 60 years old, Bakka Reddy has taken over where his father left off. “I have spent my life doing the same thing,” he says.
According to him, officials have not paid “even a single paisa” for the land.
Farmer says he lost two acres to road project
He says that despite court orders directing that the land should not be entered without compensation being paid, the road was built.
Bakka Reddy says 12 farmers from the village are still awaiting compensation for land acquired for the project. While some lost small portions of their holdings, his family lost nearly two acres.
Even after all these years, the answers remain unchanged.
On May 29, 2019, when he again approached the tahsildar, he was given a letter asking him to approach the R&B department or seek relief through the courts.
On Monday, he met the district collector, who, according to Bakka Reddy, told him that, to the best of his knowledge, the land had not been acquired and, therefore, there was no question of compensation. Bakka Reddy, however, maintains that he has documentary evidence to prove that the land was acquired and says he is prepared to produce it.
“The officials who acquired our land now advise us where to go instead of paying what is due,” he says.
Bakka Reddy says he is no longer asking for favours. He only wants the compensation his father waited for and which he is still waiting to receive.
