Andhra project to "submerge" 11,200 acres of revenue, 6,600 acres of forest land; 70,000 to lose livelihood: Report

Senior activist Vimala Morthala interacting
with tribal villagers

By A Representative
A fact-finding committee has estimated that 11,200 acres of revenue land of 127 villages, apart from 6,600 acres of forest land, would be submerged in Andhra Pradesh as a result of the proposed Rs 4,910 crore Chintalapudi Lift Irrigation project. Also displacing 16 adivasi villages, the team has further estimated that 70,000 people would lose their livelihood “entirely or partially”.
An initial report prepared by the civil society team of the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) and other people’s organizations, which visited the project-affected villages of three mandals, Jeelugumilli, T Narsapuram and Chintalapudi of West Godavari district, said its main purpose was to "understand the problems being faced by the people” because of the project.
Those who would lose their land are “land-owning farmers, landless labourers, tenant farmers and people engaged in other rural occupations”, the report said, adding, “In addition to the problems being faced by the people due to the large-scale displacement, there are also severe environmental impacts generated by this project. ”
The team – which particularly "assessed" the implementation of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act, 2013 – alarmingly found that before putting the project in motion no social impact assessment (SIA) of the area was carried out. SIA is one of the major provisions of the LARR Act.

A displaced farmer

Pointing out that the “the government is proceeding without an authenticated documentation of all the families being impacted by the project and the nature of impact”, the report also stated that no public hearing was conducted on the project, nor was any gram sabha meetings called, or local bodies such as panchayats consulted in any of the affected villages.
Pointing out that “the objections and opinions expressed by the affected villagers have not been considered or responded to”, the report said, the government is going ahead with the project without any environmental Clearance for the project.
In yet another observation, the report said, “The Rehabilitation and Resettlement Plan, as per the requirements of the LARR Act, has not been published and made public for any village”, adding, even “the claims of adivasis to their cultivation rights over forest lands, under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 have not been settled”, yet the government “is proceeding with acquiring forest lands.”
Pointing towards further violations of the LARR Act, the report said, “The real market value of land is not being determined as per the letter and spirit of Section 26(B) of the Act, when the compensation rates are being fixed.”
It added, many land holders are being offered “ex-gratia payment” in violation of the the land-for-land provision of the Act for irrigation projects.
The report said, “Since the Chintalapudi project is part of the larger Polavaram project which is being implemented through the Central government funds, the rules declared for Central government projects for rehabilitation and resettlement should be implemented.”
Wanting LARR Act to be implemented in letter and spirit, the report said, referring in particular to the provision that the compensation for the land to be submerged should be four times the market value.
The Chintalapudi Lift Irrigation project was initiated in 2008 with a capacity of 8 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft), was recently expanded to 20 tmcft.
The fact-finding committee included Meera Sanghamitra, a national convener of NAPM; Mortala Vimala, social activist; Babuji from Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruttidarula Union (APVVU); and Rahul Maganti, an independent journalist.

Comments

10,000 students deprived of classes as Ahmedabad school remains shut: MCC writes to Gujarat CM

By A Representative The Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) has written to Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, urging him to immediately reopen the Seventh Day Adventist School in Maninagar, Ahmedabad, where classes have been suspended for nearly two weeks. The MCC claims that the suspension, following a violent incident, violates the constitutional right to education of thousands of children.

Gujarat minority rights group seeks suspension of Botad police officials for brutal assault on minor

By A Representative A human rights group, the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat, has written to the Director General of Police (DGP), Gandhinagar, demanding the immediate suspension and criminal action against police personnel of Botad police station for allegedly brutally assaulting a minor boy from the Muslim community.

On Teachers’ Day, remembering Mother Teresa as the teacher of compassion

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ It is Teachers’ Day once again! Significantly, the day also marks the Feast of St. Teresa of Calcutta (still lovingly called Mother Teresa). In 2012, the United Nations, as a fitting tribute to her, declared this day the International Day of Charity. A day pregnant with meaning—one that we must celebrate as meaningfully as possible.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification.

'Govts must walk the talk on gender equality, right to health, human rights to deliver SDGs by 2030'

By A Representative With just 64 months left to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global health and rights advocates have called upon governments to honour their commitments on gender equality and the human right to health. Speaking ahead of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), experts warned that rising anti-rights and anti-gender pushes are threatening hard-won progress on SDG-3 (health and wellbeing) and SDG-5 (gender equality).

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”

Is U.S. fast losing its financial and technological edge under Trump’s second tenure?

By Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra* The United States, along with its Western European allies, once promoted globalization as a democratic force that would deliver shared prosperity and balanced growth. That promise has unraveled. Globalization, instead of building an even world, has produced one defined by inequality, asymmetry of power, and new vulnerabilities. For decades, Washington successfully turned this system to its advantage. Today, however, under Trump’s second administration, America is attempting to exploit the weaknesses of others without acknowledging how exposed it has become itself.

What mainstream economists won’t tell you about Chinese modernisation

By Shiran Illanperuma China’s modernisation has been one of the most remarkable processes of the 21st century and one that has sparked endless academic debate. Meng Jie (孟捷), a distinguished professor from the School of Marxism at Fudan University in Shanghai, has spent the better part of his career unpacking this process to better understand what has taken place.

Counterview

Search This Blog