Are Polavaram Affected Tribal Communities Short-changed by Govt for Their Land? https://www.newsclick.in/are-polavaram-affected-tribal-communities-short-changed-govt-their-land Ayaskant Das 21 Mar 2021
The Andhra Pradesh High Court has asked the state government to clarify by March 24 if project-affected families are being provided with decent rehabilitation and resettlement facilities.
On March 16, the Andhra Pradesh High Court issued a notice upon the state government to clarify within eight days if project-affected families are actually being provided with decent rehabilitation and resettlement facilities before being evicted from their habitations. The direction was issued upon a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a voluntary organisation named Search for Action and Knowledge of Tribal Initiative (SAKTI) which works for tribal rights amongst other things.
The project involves displacement of reportedly 98,818 families spread over 371 habitations in East Godavari and West Godavari districts with the total number of project-affected persons coming to 1,88,012. More than half of this population belong to the Scheduled Tribe category while Scheduled Castes also comprise a significant proportion.
Land-to-land Compensation Against Pattas Not Given
It has been alleged that in several instances, displaced tribal families are not being provided with land-to-land compensation against pattas that they have been issued in the past in forest areas under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, known otherwise as the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act. The 74 project-affected families of Agraharam belong to the Konda Reddi tribe, identified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) by the Union government.