Sushree Mohanty
The Andhra Pradesh High Court has passed a stay order on the destruction of houses in towns posing as an obstruction the Indira Sagar Polavaram Irrigation project, prominently called the Polavaram multi-purpose project, in East and West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.
The court was hearing a request recorded by an Andhra Pradesh-based environmental equity non-profit orgabisation called Search for Action and Knowledge of Tribal Initiative (Sakti).
The plea was moved before the court against the destruction of towns in the Schedule V areas of the two regions on March 8, 2021.
The Polavaram project plans to build a dam at Polavaram serving as a medium between East Godavari and West Godavari regions in Andhra Pradesh and Khammam region in Telangana.
The said plan was given a hydrological assent in 1982 by the Central Water Commission. In August 2005, the Andhra Pradesh High Court passed a stay order on all plans related to the venture, on the grounds that the concerned government authority has not been granted the essential permissions from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.
The project was again resumed in October 2005, post its grant of permission from the environmental authorities.
The Polavaram project was conferred the public status in 2014 in the Andhra Pradesh Bifurcation Act and its plan was changed. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of the undertaking presented that 276 towns will suffer due to the scheme and also said that nearly 177,275 individuals reside in these towns.
The applicant, Sivaramakrishan, additionally claimed in the plea that about 15 towns in the east and west Godavari regions in the submergence zone have been removed since 2016.
Residents were asked to relocate from Sitaram town in Devipattanam region of West Godavari and their homes were obliterated a week ago.
Refuting to the claims, the counsel of the Andhra Pradesh Water Resource Department, argued that no such event has occurred.
In response of the submissions, the court issued notification to the respondents to recorded their reply in the matter in writing on March 24 and adjourned the court for further hearing till the date.
The court additionally passed a stay order and directed no demolition or eviction process should occur until the hearing on March 24, 2021.
A 2015 High Court request had expressed that until the arrangements for restoration under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR) were carried out, the installations of gates or entry passage of the dam cannot be completed.
“The execution of LARR and settling of cases under the Forest Rights Act has been overlooked. They are constraining individuals out of their homes and destroying them before their eyes.” said Sivaramakrishan.
As per the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) [FRA] Act, 2006, the dwellers cannot be uprooted except if their rights have been settled under the law.
The plea asserted that 520 individual cases covering 2,773.02 area of land were still pending at sub-divisional level board of trustees in Chintoor and VR Puram blocks.
Additionally,1382 local area claims covering 4,966 areas of land were still not decided upon in Khammam, Kothagudem, Palvancha and Bhadrachalam divisions in Telangana.
Ravi Rebbapragada, who works for a non-profit organisation associated with tribal rights welcomed the decision of the court and stated that, “This was among the biggest displacement in the nation”
He further said that the poor and helpless individuals belonging to the tribal communities are being pressurised to leave their villages without being given any proper arrangements for residence or rehabilitation.
