In an embarrassment to the government, one of the residents of Vemulaghat village who would be displaced by the Mallannasagar project — Md. Hayatuddin — wrote a letter to Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao alleging that large scale corruption in distribution of Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) cheques in submerging villages.
Mr. Hayatuddin is one among those who has been fighting for compensation under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act- 2013 (LA Act - 2013).
“We are happy that you have extended R&R for us. I am not allowed to participate in the cheque distribution programme in the village. Some ineligible also collected R&R package cheques and they were also given 250 square yards residential plots, despite the officials being alerted about a possible fraud. This has taken place at Vemulaghat, Etigaddakishtapur and Pallepahad on a large-scale. Further, such incidents of corruption took place even during structure valuation,” he said in his letter.
“There are some cases in which those below 18 years were shown as having crossed 18 years, unmarried were shown as married, those not staying in the village for the past two decades were shown as if they were staying in the village. We are ready to identify these people within 24 hours if the list of beneficiaries was handed over to us,” he said. However, he has not mentioned any specific case of corruption.