Andhra Pradesh High Court seeks details of Gandikota affectees

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday directed the State government to submit the details of the affectees of Gandikota reservoir in Kadapa district. 

The court also directed the government to stop release of water from the reservoir for a couple of days, stating that the Water Resources Department should take care of the affected villages as the water flow was high. 

The responsibility of safeguarding the lives of people living in submergence areas of the project lies with the government, the High Court bench of Justice Rakesh Kumar and Justice J Umadevi said, while dealing with the Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed seeking a direction to the government to pay compensation to the affected villagers as per the Land Acquisition Act 2013. 

The PILs were filed by the villagers of Tallaproddatur seeking the court’s intervention to prevent the government from shifting the people of submergence areas without paying them adequate compensation.