Congress government bows to BRS pressure to give house sites, Indiramma houses to Velugumatla displaced families

The BRS alleged that the Congress government bowed to pressure over families displaced from Bhoodan lands in Velugumatla, Khammam. While 412 families are likely to receive pattas and Indiramma houses, opposition leaders questioned the exclusion of others.

Khammam: The Congress government, which rendered homeless over 700 families who were living in Bhoodan lands at Velugumatla, has finally bowed to the pressure put up by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which wanted justice to the families, and decided to distribute house sites to some selected families.

Soon after the visit of BRS working president KT Rama Rao to Khammam to interact with the displaced families, whose houses were demolished in an inhuman manner on February 24, the government caught itself in a muddle. The affected families who gained confidence with Rama Rao’s visit launched protests against the government.

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The government grappled with the problem as the BRS mounted pressure to allocate house sites to the displaced families at Velugumatla itself. Rama Rao during his visit to Khammam on February 26, very clearly and firmly assured the affected families they would be relocated at the same location, soon after the BRS came to power.

Though the government has not made any official statement, it is learned that around 311 families would be given pattas along with Indiramma houses at Bhoodan lands and 101 families would be given Indiramma houses at their native villages. The government has termed the remaining families illegal occupants of Bhoodan lands.

District ministers Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Thummala Nageswara Rao were scheduled to distribute pattas and proceedings related to Indiramma houses at the collectorate on Wednesday evening. BRS district leaders found fault with the government’s decision to provide house sites and Indiramma houses to only 412 families while abandoning the rest of the families evicted from their houses at Velugumatla.

BRS town president Pagadala Nagaraju and others warned that the BRS would stand with the affected families and fight until justice was served to them. How the government could select only 412 families and ignore the others whose houses were razed to the ground, he posed.