The Hindu November 3, 1998
SUCCESS STORY OF TRIBAL LAND OCUPANTS
BY D. CHABDRA BHASKAR RAO
Dammapet (Khammam), Nov 2:
The scenario is unusual of Telangana villages. He land lies verdant under the winter sun. the horticulture gardens and plantations stretch lushly on either side of he dusty roads. Dotted with tiny brick structures a majority of them being farm house and pump houses, the area represents a model of success achieved by farmers.
The prosperity of he peasant community in Dammapet and Aswaraopet owed to a decade of peace and unfaltering progress. But most of the successful farmers happened to be non-tribals who have come from neighbouring districts. They migrated, as an official aptly puts it, almost lock, stock and barrel. They have hardly any thing left in their ancestral places to look back to their roots.
Having started from the scratch, they involved deeply in he development of lands that were neglected by the tribals. Some obtained the lands on lease while others preferred an outright purchase. But it was all in violation of he scheduled area regulation. He lands were so cheap that the tribals sold them for a song. There were instances wherein the land were traded off for milch-animals.
The cultivators of the lands included farmers from far-flung areas too. They improved the irrigation facilities. They changed the cropping pattern. But they failed to change the status of the land. The efforts made by them to legalise the land purchase cost tem more than the value of land. Many of them have obtained documents through questionable means. The moment validity of he documents is disproved, they would be subjected to eviction form the farms which they have nurtured so well and so long.
The tribals have been protesting against the occupation of their land by the non-tribes for quite some time. But it took years for them to cm out with a serious demand for distribution of he occupied lands,. They lacked the political support. "No political party, for that matter even the to communist parties that had been crying hoarse for land, had ever engaged an effective lawyers to plead for he tribes in the cases pointed out a revenue official. The Government had done this.
He said all such parties had no right to interfere in he land issue. So far as the Congress-I is concerned, the leaders are divided on the issue of scheduled area lands. The local M.P. Mr. Nadendla Bhaskar Rao, supports the demand for an amendment to the scheduled area regulation 1/70. Such an amendment would help regularise the land deals affected in violation of he regulation.
But a former Minster Mr. Jalagam Prasada Rao, opposes
Such an amendment for his own reasons. He wants an amicable solution to the problem with out displacing either he tribes or he non-tribes. But today neither the tribes nor the non-tribes could draw the support of Congress-I leaders as no leader was available locally. The CPI (M) which had for few years been trying to consolidate its position in the area could make little headway in the direction.
Failing to get local cadres for the special assignment of land agitation, the party had drafted cadres form Bhadrachalam and Khammam areas. Despite years of work, they still remained outsiders for the tribes of the Dammapet and Aswaraopet area. Their presence was hardly felt in the village of tribal on-tribal conflict. The Sakti Organisation enjoys a distinct advantage over other organisations in the area. It had only a few volunteers working on the land issue in the two mandals.
But they all happened to be from among the tribes and continued to give with them. They could mobilise more support from the local people. Despite a split in the cadres of the organisation, the volunteers had all been working with one objective. The administration is happy with the fact that the volunteers of Sakti are preoccupied with the survey of land and verification of documents' progress in the two mandals. Other while, their disruptive potential could stall process.
The administration is equally thankful to the local leadership of the ruling Telugu Desam Party, particularly the Minister for Major Irrigation, Mr.Tummala Nageswara Rao, for giving a free hand to both revenue machinery and the law enforcing agencies in dealing with the land related cases. The Minister had so far been playing it safe by staying away from the cases wherein land alienation is warranted.
The stage has been set for the takeover of Government land from two important leaders who had been closely identified with the ruling party in the division. Both cases are likely to yield about 45 acres of land in Ranguvarigudem ad Malkaram villages. The alienation is going to be effected with the tacit approval of those in power. About 250 to 300 acres would be made available for distribution in Dammapet mandal for distribution in the next round. The minister was expected to distribute pattas for the land on November 4.
The administration had its own strategy for dealing with the land transfer regulation (LTR) cases. a total of 2274 cases, involving 9,197 acres of land, are pending in the district. Nearly, 160 of them are in the Agent's (district collector) court. In Dammapet and Aswaraopet mandals alone as much as 1083 acre of land is involved in the LTR cases.
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