Velugumatla families evicted to protect their land from middlemen, say Khammam Ministers

Three Ministers from Khammam faced criticism over the eviction of more than 700 families from Vinoba Navodaya Colony in Velugumatla. While announcing pattas and Indiramma houses for some displaced families, opposition parties questioned the manner in which the demolitions were carried out

Khammam: The three Ministers from Khammam seemed to be at a loss in finding reasons to cover up the mess created by evicting and making over 700 families of Vinoba Navodaya Colony at Velugumatla in Khammam homeless on February 24.

How much the Ministers, Bhatti Vikramarka, Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Tummala Nageswara Rao, were baffled was visible during a media briefing and the distribution of pattas as well as Indiramma houses proceedings to selected displaced families at the Collectorate here on Wednesday.

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Their remarks during the briefing raised more questions than answers about why the families had been rendered homeless in the first place. Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao stated that “in order to expose how middlemen cheated the residents of Velugumatla, the government was forced to expel the residents from their houses.” He further added that to protect the lands of the residents from the gang that cheated them and to ensure justice, the residents were subjected to a certain amount of hardship.

Bhatti Vikramarka, on the other hand, stuck to his usual rhetoric and criticised the BRS leadership, accusing it of failing to address the issue in the past.

The Ministers informed the media that 311 families without land had been given house pattas at Velugumatla along with Rs 5 lakh under the Indiramma housing scheme, while 101 families who already had house sites were issued Indiramma house proceedings. Those left out would also be provided either house sites or Indiramma houses if found eligible. They said the construction of houses would commence on Thursday. Basic facilities such as water supply, roads and other infrastructure would be provided to develop the colony as a model one. A model school would also be built adjacent to the colony.

Meanwhile, opposition parties questioned the rationale behind demolishing houses in what they described as an inhuman manner, which caused immense suffering to the affected families. They said the government should have handled the issue in a constructive manner through consultations.

Prior to the media briefing, as was the case on February 24, more than 2,000 police personnel were deployed at the Collectorate and along a half-kilometre stretch of the main road leading to it to prevent families excluded from the beneficiaries’ list from staging protests.

Some families who attempted to reach the Collectorate were detained by the police.