A few weeks ago, a board was erected at the site where house sites were allotted for the oustees of Vemulaghat, one of the submerged villages under Mallannasagar.
“The Honourable High Court for the State of Telangana vide its order dated 14-07-22 in W.P. No. 21252/2022 has granted status quo order in respect of lands in Sy. No 326 and 331 owned by Balaji Spinners,” read the board erected in the house sites.
Since then, the outees of Vemulaghat village who were allotted lands at the place are unable to progress further. Though the government has reportedly come forward to provide them alternative land for construction of houses, they are not ready to take it up as it would physically distance them from the remaining villagers
The case was filed by one Bukka Ramesh in the High Court seeking justice. His contention was that he, along with his brother B. Venkatesham, had purchased about 79 acres of lands from pattadars in 2013-14 and the land was registered in the name of Balaji Spinners Limited. Though they had applied for mutation of land records few years ago it was not done for the reasons best known to the officials.
“The government is claiming that these are government lands and registered cases against me and my brother Venkatesham for purchasing government lands. But surprisingly, even Dharani portal is reflecting the names of those farmers who sold their lands. How can officials claim these lands belong to the government? Huge pressure was built up against us to sell these lands. We were harassed by officials concerned. My brother was even arrested and later released on bail. I had lost my brother to COVID on May 10, 2021 followed by my mother on June 22, 2021. Even I was on oxygen for a few months from December 2020,” Mr. Ramesh informed The Hindu.
Mr. Ramesh says that about 75 acres of their land was registered to the government by some persons for which payments were made, but the authorities were not responding to applications filed under Right to Information Act (RTI). He wonders how the government can purchase its own land from farmers if its claims are correct.
Stating that they had already submitted relevant documents to the High Court in this regard based on which the court has issued ‘status quo,’ Mr. Ramesh said that their intention was to establish a spinning mill near Gajwel town.
“The fact is that the construction of houses was stopped at Vemulaghat due to the status quo order by the High Court. However, those lands taken by the government are assignment lands and we have every proof in this regard. We are confident that the stay will be vacated shortly,” said an official on condition of anonymity.
