Are all oustees given R&R package: HC

HYDERABAD: A division bench of Telangana High Court on Tuesday issued notices to the State government for filing a detailed counter affidavit on its rehabilitation and resettlement policy extended to the land losers under projects like Kaleshwaram.  

“The R&R package should be in such a way that the oustees should be able to restart their lives at the new areas without much pain. It should not be merely confined to paper or it should not be an eyewash, but it should be concrete and beneficial to the affected families,’’ the bench noted.

The bench was passing this order in a PIL filed by Civil Liberties Committee represented by its State president Gaddam Laxman, seeking direction to the authorities concerned to stop all works of Mallanna Sagar project until completion of R&R entitlements as per law in respect of all villages coming under submergence.

During the course of hearing, the bench asked the government counsel to tell about the R&R policy being implemented by the State. “Has the Telangana government succeeded in extending the R&R package to all the affected families whose lands have been acquired for the project?”, the ACJ asked.

In reply, state additional advocate general J Ramachandra Rao said that the government has been extending all the benefits to the affected families.  

Disputing the AAG’s submissions, petitioner’s counsel V Raghunath told the court that the ground realities were different. The authorities were resorting to coercive steps by using police force against the farmers who were unwilling to take the meagre compensation offered by the government and being booked under bind over cases, he noted.

The bench directed the State government to the notices issued within four weeks by filing detailed counter affidavit and adjourned the case hearing to June.