The only inhabitants of this once-bustling village appear to be the stray dogs roaming around the empty streets. Erravalli in Kondapaka mandal of Siddipet district will get submerged under Mallannasagar, a part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP).
The village is completely deserted but for five families. Two women, one young and the other elderly, are in a heated argument with Ramulu, Sarpanch Balamani’s husband, alleging injustice meted out to them over payment of compensation.
“We left the village about two decades ago and have been trying to make a living in Hyderabad. I was married to a man from this village and we belong here. How can I become ineligible?” asked P. Padma, wife of Srinivasachary. They are daily labourers and unable to get work as there are only five families left in the village.
“We do not have enough food and had to skip dinner last night. I had to go to my mother’s house at Pragnapur and borrow 10 kg rice to sustain ourselves,” she explained.
A few metres away from their house, on the other side of the road, a building is being demolished.
It seems, people who left the village engaged labourers to demolish the house to recover the steel and wood (like doors and windows), which can be used at the Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) colony coming up at Mutrajpally, where oustees from seven villages are being accommodated.
“We are not getting any work here and got hired recently to demolish the house. These are the same houses which were once full of life and now, they are empty shells. It breaks our hearts to bring down these structures. We can feel the pain,” said Perla Ganesh, standing on the roof of an empty house that will soon be brought down.
A bustling village once, with many fighting for compensation under Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act- 2013 (LA Act- 2013), Erravalli is almost deserted now. It has lost its sheen and will never come back to life again. It will be buried forever under the Godavari water from Kaleshwaram in the next few months.