Polavaram Tribal Oustees Fail to Get Justice from Officials

Kakinada: The Andhra Pradesh government has failed to resolve the problems of families displaced by the Polavaram Project, especially the Schedule Tribes.

Tribal people of Koruturu village of Jeelugumilli mandal of Eluru district are roaming around the collector’s office and begging the government officials to do justice, but in vain.

According to them, the state government acquired land from tribal people in Papikondalu district for the Polavaram Irrigation Project in 2009 and built rehabilitation colonies in Koruturu and other villages. The government also gave land-to-land compensation of 188 acres to displaced families of tribal communities.

Families arrived in the colonies in 2022. However, the problem started in Koruturu village. The government gave patta to their land as compensation. However, while entering the fields, a tribal named M Venkateswara Rao allegedly resisted them from entering his fields.

His claim is that the lands have been cultivated by local tribal people for many years and that if the current displaced families cultivate these lands, the livelihoods of the local people will be lost.

Mule Posubabu, a family member who was displaced due to the Polavaram irrigation project, said that in the lands under groundnut cultivation, the local leader brought in a large number of people from Buttayigudem mandal and destroyed the crop. When they first established a Palmolive plantation, it destroyed their crops. The second time, he said, the plants were destroyed by spraying chemicals.

He said that the state government had left the families displaced under the Polavaram Project in a difficult situation and no one was now in a position to solve their problems.

Tribal people, who have financial difficulties and cannot enter their fields, are struggling to make ends meet due to unemployment. They should be able to make a living. Otherwise, rehabilitation will be of no use.

Another victim, M Satyavathi, said that all the victims approached the district collectors and revenue officials and “they said that under the Polavaram project, the government had given patta to these tribal people as land-to-land compensation.”

They proposed that they would go to the fields and cultivate the crop, she said, and added that though the displaced families approached the police with complaints, they could not get justice.

He said local tribal leader Venkateswara Rao had approached the court claiming that the land belonged to them. But the government could not provide them justice. He called on all parties to resolve their problems.

Satyavathi requested chief minister Naidu, Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan and HRD minister Nara Lokesh to intervene and provide justice to the displaced families.