After Monday’s drive against encroachments on the Swarnamukhi riverbed near Tanapalle junction on the city outskirts, the revenue officials were in a fix on Tuesday, with the evacuated residents turning their ire against the lower level staff, who had allegedly encouraged them to encroach upon the government land.
The department staff removed 400 unoccupied houses in Avilala village on Monday and came back to remove the similar number of houses, which were recently occupied. It was only recently that the residents started staying in the houses, while some reportedly performed house-warming ceremony just a couple of days ago, only to see them being razed to the ground right in front of their eyes. Most of them knew it was bound to happen and hence silently moved away from the scene, while some did raise an objection at the lower level revenue staff.
‘Hand-in-glove’
Some of the revenue staff members were allegedly ‘hand-in-glove’ with the encroachers and hence turned a blind eye when the houses were coming up. However, when the issue came to the notice of the higher authorities, who directed that the buildings be pulled down, the same staff members had to act.
With the model code in place, no political leader was available to join issue with the officials. When the staff members arrived there to monitor the operations using earthmovers, they were directly exposed to the displaced residents, who turned their ire on the staff for “changing stand.”
Ramana, the Village Revenue Assistant of Kupuchandrapet, was attacked on Tuesday by the irate residents who lost shelter during Monday’s drive. He was rushed to Ruia for treatment. Some of the families accused the revenue staff of “being supportive” of their encroachment after their palms were greased.
Vedanthapuram, Tanapalle, Kupuchandrapet and the scores of villages located south of Tirupati and abutting the Swarnamukhi river bed face a similar problem.