Guntur, April 15: If it was heartbreak for Kota Satyam of Bodanam village in Bellamkonda mandal of Guntur district last year, now it is shock and outrage.
Being turned out of the house he had lived in all his life because it was to be inundated under the Pulichintala project was a wrench.
Now, the IT department officials have turned up at his new doorstep saying he owes them 10 per cent of the Rs 1.04 lakh paid to him as compensation.
Angry at this insult added to injury, Satyam refused to receive the notice.
But more vexation was in store, with the irrigation department serving notice on him claiming 10 per cent of the sum paid towards “depreciation of the house’’.
Satyam is not the only one to receive such treatment. Over 6,277 houses in Bellamkonda, Rajupalem, Dachepalli and Machavaram mandals are going to be submerged.
The government has paid Rs 8.20 crore toward compensation so far and the IT department has started issuing notices to displaced villagers demanding tax to the tune of Rs 1,30,51,451.
Villagers bitterly recall promises by political leaders at the time of acquisition that they would not have to pay any tax on the compensation and that the government would put its weight behind them.
Disregarding these assurances, IT officials are asking Pulichintala land acquisition officials to recover tax on compensation paid to the oustees.
In addition, they have also asked treasury officials to stop payments to the land acquisition department till further orders.
Project officials have paid compensation to the residents of all the 13 villages except to owners of 66 houses in Gollapeta village.
District collector B Ramanjaneyulu said that proposals had been forwarded to the State Government that it pay the income tax on behalf of the displaced.
While the inhabitants of Kamepalli recieved notices last week, the residents of Bodanam, Gopalapuram, Kolluru, Chityalatanda, Pulichinta, Ketavaram, Ammaj i g u d e m , G o v i n d a p u r a m , Vellampalli,Regulagadda, Vemavaram and Elimampeta refused to accept the same.
Pulichintala land acquisition special collector Imtiaz Ahmed said that the IT officials had Rs 28 lakh from the bank account held by Unit I of the Pulichintala project adjusted to their account towards tax dues. From Unit II also they transferred Rs 18 lakh under this head.
The IT officials also issued notices to the accounts officers of Pulichintala units I, II and III asking them to stop making fresh payments, it is learnt.
–Agencies