Yapalguda land losers’ Godot wait for the promised benefits

Some Yapalguda villagers showing the papers of their assigned land, which was acquired by the government for establishing the Indian Reserve Battalion in Adilabad district. (Source: S. Harpal Singh)

Scheduled Caste (SC) farmers and their families of Yapalguda in Adilabad rural mandal had welcomed the proposal to establish the headquarters of an Indian Reserve Battalion close to their village. Nearly two years later, some of them are ruing their enthusiasm, thanks to the delay in the promised compensatory benefits to those who have lost their agriculture lands.

As the case goes, in 2017-18, the State government had acquired over 100 acres of land through GO number 73 of the Revenue Department dated May 10, 2017 in survey number 191, which was all government land assigned to SC farmers. Over eight acres of private patta land was also acquired subsequently.

No jobs yet

During the acquisition process the government had promised to allocate three acres to the dalit farmers under the land purchase scheme besides promising jobs to eligible members of the families which lost their lands, according to the farmers. “It is over two years since our land was acquired but none of my three sons were given a job as promised,” lamented 85-year-old Sada Shivanna.

The old farmer said the government had acquired his more than five acres of land forcing his sons to earn a livelihood by working as labourers. Kothur Ganganna, another farmer who lost 1 acre and 53 cents of his land had the same grouse.

Vacuous responses

“I have been meeting leaders and officials to request them to give a job as promised to my son. No one has given me any satisfactory reply so far,” he added. Many villagers gathered to narraate their woes when The Hindu visited Yapalguda, about seven km away from Adilabad on the Satnala route.

The villagers showed copies of the pattadar passbooks for the lands they had been assigned several years ago. Some of them said the lands had been under cultivation since the times of their grandfathers.

The Battalion Commandant R. Venugopal said there are six or seven land-losing families who remain to be given contract jobs. “The jobs will be given in the next financial year when the notification for recruitment of cooks comes out,” he asserted.