Andhra Pradesh

Compensation after 20 years!

By Our Staff Reporter

ANANTAPUR, MARCH 3. About 20 years after 19 poor farmers of Malyavantham and M.Cherlopalli villages in Bathalapalli mandal gave their lands for a distributary to the Dharamavaram Branch Canal, a sub-system of HLC, the State Government has decided to pay compensation along with 30 per cent solatium.

This was told to the farmers concerned by the Joint Collector, Shashibhushan Kumar, at Malyavantham on Thursday. While the farmers of patta lands were given compensation long ago farmers of assigned lands were denied the benefit.

The process to pay compensation to the assigned land owners began three years agok when the Government had issued a GO. The distributary was excavated after acquiring land from the farmers in 1986.

The Joint Collector inspected the lands acquired from the farmers on which the distributary was excavated and directed the officials to valuate the land. In all, 20.14 acres of assigned dry land was acquired from 14 farmers and 9.58 acres of assigned wet land (well-irrigated) was taken from five farmers.

The Government had fixed a rate of Rs. 23,000 per acre to dry land and Rs. 30,000 to wet land. Besides, 30 per cent of solatium would also be given to the farmers concerned, the Joint Collector said. He directed the Land Acquisition Officer to pass the compensation award and distribute the cheques by the month-end.

Laxmidevamma, Chinna Gangappa, Yerrappa and Nallappa, some of the farmers concerned, said the Government decision had come as a big relief to them when they had almost lost hopes on getting any compensation.

NFFW inspected

Later, the Joint Collector inspected wage employment works taken up under the National Food-for-Work programme at Ananthasagaram and Karanalakunta villages in Bathalapalli mandal and Pothula Nagepalli village in Dharmavaram rural mandal.

At Ananthasagaram he said the desiltation of check dam taken up there was one of the best works he had seen for the last two years. Labourers, S. Laxmidevi and S. Linganna, told the Joint Collector that they used to migrate to Karnataka for telephone cable laying work but were happy now to get the work here.

When the labourers told the Joint Collector that they were getting about Rs. 70 to Rs. 80 wages per day he instructed the officials to pay the lead and lift charges so that they could get about Rs. 100 per day.

The Joint Collector claimed that there was no distress migration from the district and labourers who were migrating were doing it for better wages.

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