Hyderabad: Telugu Desam Party general secretary and MLC Nara Lokesh demanded justice for the people displaced as a result of the Polavaram irrigation project. He remarked on Friday that individuals who deserved compensation did not receive it as other vested groups created fake D-forms to obtain the compensation amount.
In a letter addressed to the Commissioner of the Central Vigilance Commission, Lokesh said that the Polavaram project, while a very important one, resulted in the displacement of lakhs of people most of whom are Adivasis. The displaced now found themselves denied the compensatory amount which was rightfully theirs, he claimed.
Lokesh, in a letter to the CVC Commissioner, further added that the issue of swindling money through bogus D-Forms and land entitlement documents had been brought to the notice of the Collector and District Magistrate of East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh, but that no action was initiated to date.
The amount in question, said Lokesh, comes to more than Rs. 3 crores, with at least 12 individuals falsely benefiting with compensation ranging Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 52 lakh. This case is specific only to bogus D-form pattas issued in the village of K.Kothagudem and hints at the possibility of a large-scale scam taking place.
Lokesh argued that the modus operandi of the scam called into question the involvement of YSRCP leaders who were in cahoots with the village revenue officer who created new revenue records with bogus names.
Lokesh appealed to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to inquire into the widespread corruption in rehabilitation and resettlement of Polavaram dam’s induced displaced and initiate disciplinary action against the culprits, especially the village revenue officers to restore faith in the Adivasi community.