The voters from Mallapur, Dharmasagar, Nizamguda, Bhorajguda and Urvethaguda in Sirikonda mandal of Adilabad district, on Thursday, resolved to boycott the coming gram sarpanch election as their demand for repatriating their villages to Indervelli mandal has not been conceded by the government.
The headmen, patels, of these villages and some 50 voters passed a resolution to this affect at a meeting at Mallapur.
“There would be no nominations filed and no voting in our villages,” declared Athram Bheem Rao, the chief of Mallapur village development committee. “We will not allow officials to come to our village either,” warned Purka Bapu Rao, an activist of the Tudum Debba, an Adivasi organisation.
These villages were in Indervelli mandal until the reorganisation of districts and mandals that took place in 2016. While Mallapur, Dharmasagar, Bhorajguda and Urvethaguda were in Tejapur gram panchayat, Nizamguda was in Rampur gram panchayat.
Not convinced
“Sirikonda mandal was formed by allocating our villages then. We have been staging protests since over two years but to no effect,” recalled Mallapur patel Durva Raju.
When told that the issue was almost settled as the Chief Minister has cleared the relevant file, the villagers talked of their apprehension. “We were told by Collector D. Divya that our habitations will be repatriated to Indervelli within 8 days,” former sarpanch Pusam Anand Rao pointed out.
“We are, however, scared that if we participate in the election under this set up it would be like endorsing the move of the government to alienate us from Indervelli. We cannot afford that,” affirmed Mr. Bheem Rao.
There are over 1,000 voters in these habitations which are now under Mallapur gram panchayat. Among those who attended the meeting were Nizamguda patel Mesram Jangu, Bhorajguda patel Madavi Hanmanthu, Urvethaguda patel Urvetha Manku and Dharmasagar patel Sable Sirichand.