Ch. Umma Reddy is a farmer of Etigaddakishtapur in Toguta mandal. His village will be submerged under the under-construction Mallannasagar reservoir of the larger Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP). He owns five acres in the village and when he transplanted paddy in three acres, officials forcibly tilled over the land on December 31, 2020, damaging the crop and making it non-cultivable. The officials did not rest at that they rendered one more acre of land non-cultivable by allowing water to stagnate around it.
Mr. Umma Reddy has been facing tremendous pressure from government officials, including police, to sell his land to the government for the construction of Mallannasagar. But he has refused to be cowed down by the pressure and is determined to save his land and continue his cultivation activity. This rabi (yasangi) season he has sown paddy in the one acre of cultivable land that he has been left with and got a yield of 40 quintals and 40 kilograms of paddy.
“I have faced all sort of pressure from the officials and police. They have even threatened me with dire consequences. Despite all this, I have cultivated paddy and got a good yield,” Mr. Umma Reddy told The Hindu. During last kharif (vaanakalam) season he got an yield of 60 quintals of paddy.
Md. Hayatuddin, a farmer from Vemulaghat in Toguta mandal, whose village will also be submerged under the Mallannsasagar, has been waging a fight with the government for compensation under Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act – 2013 (LA Act -2013). This season he harvested 960 quintals from his eight acres and his brother Khaja Moinuddin got another 960 quintals from his eight acres of land in the same village. There are some 14 such farmers, in the two submergence villages, who cultivated paddy, got a good yield and sold their harvest at the IKP centres.
“We are fighting for our rights to get better compensation for the land acquired by the government for the project. At the same time, we wish to prove that we are farmers who can ensure food security to the people,” said Mr. Hayatuddin.