LADN ROW: KHAMMAM HAS A LONG WAY TO GO
By D. chandra Bhaskar Rao
The Hindu. October 28, 1998
ASWARAOPET (Khammam dist), Oct 27.
In four month's time over 3,000 acres of land was taken away from non-Tribals and distributed to Tribals. It is no mean achievement, claim the revenue officials involved in the land distribution exercise.
The administration's approach to the tribal land issue was viewed as an ideal one. Hence the "Khammam model" is much talked about today and is projected as a fit case to be studied for handling a similar situation in neighbouring West Godavari .
But the ground reality is that the land problem still persists. The district has to go a long way to find a permanent solution to the problem that cropped up because of the influx of non-Tribals, landgrabbing and fraudulent methods in land deals. It may take another five to six years to address the problem as per the legal provisions.
A senior official who played a vital role in handling the tribal-non tr4ibal confrontation, said "No great work was done. No great work was going to be done either. We have just succeeded in identifying the Government land in the enjoyment of non-tribes and giving it away to the landless tribes. The problem has been better managed so far".
The success of the administration as well as the law enforcing agencies lies only in checking the spread of the agitation to other parts of the district, particularly the Bhadrachalam revenue division where the land problem, particularly the violation of the scheduled area Regulation 1/70, is much more serious. The Tribals who have resumed protests in the area, complain that highly influential families which had acquired large extent of land in violation of the scheduled area regulation had not been touched till now. A few of such families surrendered lands ranging from one acre to five acres when it became unavoidable. The Revenue Department could distribute 1,468.15 acres of land to 669 tribal beneficiaries in Aswaraopet mandal and 1,150.23 acres to 625 beneficiaries in Dammapet mandal between July 19 and October4, last.
Mr. Soyam Bojji and Mr. Punem Ramesh, volunteers of Sakti, said about 20 to 25 families were owning more than 70 acres each in the two mandals. A business family from Guntur has acquired nearly 223 acres in Jammigudem gram panchayat. Local officials say the land deal was mad3e before the commencement of AP (SA) chase was made only after the Tribals laws came into was made only after the tribal laws came into force. There other families are in possession of 60 to 70 acres each in kesappagudem village.
Basing on he revenue records, the 1994-95 pahani in particular, all such holdings are being exempted from the survey.
The tribal leaders have been asking for revenue records from 1963 onwards to establish the occupancy of such holdings. In certain cas3es, the land in the cultivation of Tribals was taken possession of for assignment to a new set of beneficiaries. In Kesappagudem, about 10 acres developed over the years by Mr. Narem Bullaiah, a tribal farmer was allotted to people of his own community as part of the land distribution Programme two months age. The beneficiaries accepted the pattas reluctantly.
The mandal Revenue Officer, Mr. Kumaraswamy, explained that the land was taken because there was a non-tribal behind the tribal farmer.
The Tribals have also been insistent about finding out the enjoyment status of 350 acres in Survey Nos. 535and 403 of Malkaram village. Half the problem could be solved if the real extent of land in Survey no. 108 of Aswaraopet was ascertained and distributed properly to the landless, they said. Part of the land was already allotted to freedom fighters in the survey number which falls in the non-scheduled area.
The tribal agitation, which started in Rachurupalli village of Palvancha revenue division November last, was contained in a systematic manner. The activity of Sakti volunteers, who backed the agitation, was restricted to a cluster of village in Aswaraopet and Dammapet revenue mandals. Veiled threats helped in silencing them.
Tribal activists from outside the district were prevented from interfering. Retired revenue personnel drafted by Sakti from outside for the survey work in Khammam were forcibly sent back.
"This all was done more in favor of the Tribals," claimed an official. He said once the agitation took a violent turn, the whole process would come to a standstill. The Tribals who are at the receiving end would be the ultimate losers.
As part of a three-pronged strategy, the district Minister at his level prevailed upon non-tribal leaders to part with the Government lands in their possession in the first phase. He exhorted the well-to-do farmers to surrender the lands voluntarily. He prevented some farmers from challenging the alienation of lands in court. At his behest some farmers withdrew contempt cases.
The Revenue department to up land survey in a big way by engaging additional number of surveyors. Tribal families with zero land holding were assigned lands. The Minister held weekly meetings with officials to review the progress of the survey and issued pattas effecting the assignment of lands.
The police shouldered the responsibility of bringing the tribes and non-tribes together for a dialogue. |
