Even while the agitation by oustees of Gudatipally of Akkannapet mandal in Siddipet reached its peak and they are on roads, the officials are making it clear that compensations to majority of oustees were cleared and their other genuine demands would be addressed. At the same time they are making it clear they would go ahead with the works for the initially proposed 1.4 tmcft capacity works.
“The machines to pump water into the Gouravelli reservoir were brought from China and Japan. We have to dry run the motors to test their functioning and it has to be completed within the stipulated period of one year. For that we have to conduct a survey but some of the villagers have been obstructing us and hence the police force was used,” said an official involved in the process of executing the project.
“The payment of compensation was completed except for 85 acres which belong to some 50 farmers. They are not coming for consent. Some 175 farmers agreed for consent amount and we have paid ₹15 lakh per acre. There are 10 farmers who had not taken compensation for lands, but they have accepted compensation for houses. For 11 houses compensation was not paid as they were identified as constructed just before assessment. 927 persons out of 937 persons got the R&R package in 2017. Out of the total 4,000 acres required for the project 3916 acres (98.99 per cent) were already acquired. Payment was cleared for all the 590 houses long ago,” M. Jayachandra Reddy, Revenue Divisional Officer, Husnabad, told The Hindu.
Mr. Jayachandra Reddy further clarified that the pump house was located at Regonda and not in the limits of Gudatipally. The water that would be pumped during dry run would not submerge the village. He said that Finance and Heath Minister T. Harish Rao came forward to allot house sites at Ramavaram for 18 youths but the oustees rejected the offer.
