Tension in Khammam as officials evict around 600 families living on Bhoodan lands

An eviction drive in Khammam’s Vinoba Navodaya Colony triggered high tension as officials, backed by hundreds of police and disaster relief personnel, demolished houses built by poor families on Bhoodan Board land. The police also restricted media coverage, leading to friction with journalists.

Khammam: High tension prevailed at Vinoba Navodaya Colony in Velugumatla area on the outskirts of Khammam city on Tuesday as officials started demolishing houses built by poor families.

Hundreds of police mobilised from Khammam, Kothagudem and neighbouring districts, disaster relief force personnel along with revenue, municipal officials and staff arrived at the colony early in the morning. A huge fleet of earth movers, tractor trolleys and mini-trucks have also been deployed to shift the debris after the demolition of the houses.

According to officials around 600 families have built houses eight years ago with support from Grameena Pedala Sangham on about 18 acres of land of Bhoodan Board. The eviction was being done as per the High Court verdict.

The affected families complained that they had built small huts with whatever means available to them and found fault with the State government for deploying hundreds of policemen to displace them forcefully. The residents confronted the police, creating a tense atmosphere.

The locals lamented that they had voted for Congress in the previous Assembly elections and the government was now making them homeless, throwing them onto the roads. The officials and real estate traders colluded to remove them from the land.

They accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of cheating them while finding fault with the district ministers Bhatti Vikramarka, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Tummala Nageswara Rao for not coming to their rescue.

Those with poor financial background were given proceedings allotting 100 square yards of land in 2014 by Bhoodan Board. The residents approached the High Court in 2019 seeking to provide basic facilities at the colony and the court directed the officials concerned to give electricity connections and ensure drinking water supply, the residents said.

Since the officials remained inattentive, the residents again knocked the door of the High Court and the court in 2022 again ordered the officials address the needs of the colony residents. But now the officials are evicting them citing a court order, they grieved.

On the other hand, the police prevented the media from covering the incident, stating that they received orders from higher-ups. This led to some conflict between the police and the media. When media personnel questioned why they were not allowed to cover, the police later permitted some reporters to reach the spot for coverage.