HANUMAKONDA: Hundreds of farmers from Arepally and Paidipally villages continued their protest on Tuesday against an illegal survey of their agriculture land allegedly by staff of a Pune-based firm. They raised slogans against the illegal land pooling survey and took out a rally from the village centre to a Hanuman temple where each farmer broke 108 coconuts.
The protest began last week after the ‘surveyors’ fled when confronted by the villagers, subsequently leading to a temporary blockade of nearby National Highway and petition to collectors of Hanumakonda and Warangal districts on Monday. The two collectors have ordered a probe into the survey.
On Tuesday, however, an enquiry by TOI revealed that the RDOs were yet to get the representation submitted by the farmers to the collectors.
Hanumakonda RDO and in-charge DRO Vasu Chandra said that the farmers had explained the matter to the collectors during a grievance hearing on Monday, but the file had not come through to the department. Chandra said that they would take up the matter once they receive the relevant instructions from the collector’s office.
With no clear answers from anyone on the matter, villagers have been in a state of panic over their land. Two villages have formed a united farmers front and its convenor Budde Peddanna stated that Kakatiya Urban Development Authority (KUDA) and revenue officials were not even responding to their pleas to investigate the alleged illegal land pooling survey in the villages.
“We request officials to take up the inquiry immediately and take action against those behind this illegal survey,” Pedanna said. Earlier on Monday, farmers had tied rakhis to their crops as mark of protest against the survey.
Meanwhile, Warangal district collector M Haritha said that the KUDA proposal will be taken up only with consent of farmers in order to conduct a land pooling survey.
The farmers raised slogans against the illegal land pooling survey and took out a rally from the village centre to a Hanuman temple where each farmer broke 108 coconuts
