Tribal land conflict in Khammam Village

By Our Staff Reporter

The Hindu, July 27, 1998.

Khammam, July 26:

A cluster of hamlets around Vasanthavada village in the remote valairpadu mandal has become another trouble spot because of the tribal and non-tribal conflict over land rights. The problem began as tribals staked claim for about 50 acres of land, which has for the past two and a half decades been enjoyed buy non-tribal farmers. The farmers have no documents in support of their ownership. Land pattas are in the names of the tribals.

Besides this, another 200 acres of Government land has been with non-tribal farmers for quite some time. Stirred up into action by activists of Tudum Debba, the tribals of the area were up in arms. As they sought to occupy the lands, non-tribals were ready to resist by all means. The farmers staged a demonstration in front of the NMRO office of Valairpadu recently.

Revenue officials have also enquired into the land problem. Barring a few farmers, a majority of non-tribals enjoying the Government land were in possession of less than five acres. The tribals have been insisting on restoring at least the land for which pattas have already been issued in their favour.

The police and revenue officials are thoroughly monitoring the situation in the area. Efforts are on to provide land to the landless tribals so as to stop their protests. The threats held out by the Tudum Debba have, however, put the non-tribal farmers on alert. The authorities have claimed that the situation is under control. But tension is palpable in the hamlets of Medepalli, Bhudevipet and Reddigudem also on account of the land problem.

The divide between the tribal and non-tribals on account of land-related issues is being increasingly felt in some of the areas of Mulakalapalli, Chandrugonda, Velaipadu and Kukunoor mandals also. The administration has already taken up land survey and distribution in Dammapet mandal. The first incident of land occupation by the tribals was reported in Rachurupalli, a hamlet of Malkaram revenue village in Dammapet mandal, on November 13 last year.

The revenue and police authorities have succeeded in bringing both tribal and non-tribal sections for negotiations in the area. The tribal protesters relented as the officials assureds them of an amicable solution for the land problem by completing survey by the end of August first week. So was the case in Aswaraopet mandal also.

The district administration prepared an action plan in March last to complete the survey in the areas affected by the problem by drafting survey personnel in the neighbouring mandals. But the survey work did not progress as desired because of legal hurdles. While some of the non-tribals obtained court orders staying the survey, the tribals declined to extend cooperation to the survey personnel due to lack of faith on the official machinery.

Revenue officials have identified the problem areas and explained to the tribals and non-tribals the legal provisions involved in the land issue. The Joint Collector, Mr. Mohd. Ali Rafath, and the Superintendent of Police, Mr. P.S.R. Anjaneyulu, jointly held a meeting with the tribal and non-tribal leaders at the Dammapet mandal revenue office on July 8 last.

The tribals suspended their agitation for one month (up to August 8) following an assurance by the officials to step up the survey and to make the land assignment with in a week after the completion of the survey. The tribals also agreed to desist themselves from hampering the progress of survey, obstructing farm activity of the non-tribal farmers.

The district administration has given clear instructions to the mandal revenue officers that the Scheduled Castes in possession of Government land should in no way be relieved of it. The Revenue Department is examining whether the Scheduled Castes are eligible for any special consideration as per the GO Ms. No. 41 issued by the Government to safeguard the interest of such sections.

VILLAGE BOUNDARY: REVENUE RECORDS AMBIGUOUS

By our staff Report

The Hindu, December 7, 1998

Khammam Dec 6.

The Revenue department has taken up the ardous task of tracing out from the State Archives records pertaining to the changes effected in the sketch map of Amudalapadu (d) - a deserted village in Dammapet mandal. The alterations made in the village boundary, which took place long before independence have come under question as the land-starved tribals have been staking claim for the holdings in the possession of a few politically influential non-tribal farmers.

The village was in fact ceased to exist by 1901. About 225 acres of land within the village boundary have changed hands many a tie before the tribal laws came into effect. Even the revenue records also were shifted from place to place any number of times, because of the abolition of samsthans, liquidation of the Nizam State , formation of Khammam district by carving out areas from Warangal and East Godavari districts and introduction of the revenue mandal system.

The main problem with the records in that many of the survey numbers of the village are counted twice. The land in certain survey numbers is overlapping into the sketch map of the neighboring revenue village Malkaram, which was part of the erstwhile Samsthanam of Palvanch. The destruction of the banana plantation extended over an area of 20 acres by the tribals in the village recently owed mainly to the ambiguity in the records.

Survey number 535, the tribals claim, had lot of Government land in the illegal occupation of the non-tribals. The status of the land in the various survey numbers of these two villages should be better explained to the tribals to obtain a better solution to the problem in the area. There was about 308 acres of land in survey no, 535. of this 69 acres of land was already distributed to the landless and another 30 acres was taken over from the non-tribal farmers for another round of distribution.

The Survey number which was the bone of contention between the tribals and non-tribals, might not yield any more land, said a revenue officer. But the tribes were not in a mood to relent. Much of the land is covered with horticulture garden and the value would be much more that that of the lands in the Nagarjunasagar left Canal ayacut. The Revenue Department had identified about 69 acres of land in the survey number being part of the boundaries of both Malkaram and Amudalapadu villages.

The survey was conducted over a month ago by the local surveyors of the department at the behest of the collector, Mr. A. Giridhar and the Joint Collector, Mr. Mohd, Ali Rafath. As the surveyors found to be interacting more often with the non-tribals, the tribals became skeptical of the exercise. The authorities felt the need to pursue the effort by keeping the personnel at work above suspicion. As a result, the Regional Deputy Director of Land Survey and Settlement came to Malkaram on November 11 for conducting the survey at a higher level.

As he needed to clarify himself the reasons for the alteration effected in the revenue boundary of Amudalapadu village in 1942, he studied the records thoroughly. He returned again on Friday along with the traverse survey records and maps available from 1901. As per the survey conducted in 1934, there was 225 acres of land within the village boundary of Amudalapadu.

For some reasons, the calculations made as per the 1934 survey were discarded and new calculations were done in 1942 according to which the total area falling in the village boundary went up to 295 acres.

The changes came into effect basing on an order (Letter No. 1536/55 of 31 Khurdad 1351 Fasli) issued by the Department of Survey Settlement of the Nizam frantic efforts are on to unearth the order from the Archives. On completion of the survey, the Regional Deputy Director, land survey and Settlement would report the findings to the district administration enabling the Joint Collector to take a decision on the overlapping survey numbers.