Development induced Displacement

In Pittalagududiselu village, there are 50 families who are displaced from Chandlapur due to Dam construction. Because of the displacement, they have lost their house and livelihood. Now they have nothing to eat and no home to live.  They have been living here in tents for the last two years in Pittalagududiselu.   

ST community tent house

People displaced are the NAKKALA tribe who are most visible in South India.

As their traditional livelihood is to sell beads, combs and small utensils in the market areas of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Once they have been nomadic by nature, though most of them had settled in towns without any permanent shelter. But, even though till now they carry their matriarchal tradition with them.

Apart from them, another community is also living there which is called Dakkala who belongs to Scheduled Castes. One of the community members said that government is taking away their land but giving no compensation as they were promised 6 lakh per acre.
The homeless affected people  were promised by the government to be rehabilitated with  2bhk house in 2017.

P.C. Gajaraj Solankee

It has been more than a year no proper rehabilitation and resettlement has been done by the government. As per the observation, Nakkalas are living in very pathetic condition.

 We saw an old man wearing nothing but a piece of cloth just to cover his private body parts.

As per the interaction with the community people, they are facing many issues pertaining to health, education, water, and sanitation. As it was the rainy season, we asked how they survive the night in the Tents. One of the answers came out that they are used to it and there is no other option other than these Tents.

They also said that Mr. Harish Rao came to inaugurate the 20 houses which were given to DAKKALA communities. When the minister was asked about their housings he replied that the next construction of houses will be done for them.

The tribe people are generally hit the hardest by displacement, most often without adequate compensation. The government takes away the lands without arranging the alternative so there is always uncertainty remained regarding rehabilitation and resettlement. And the compensation, which is given in monetary value that is 6 lakh per acre, is not adequate compensation compare to market value. Also, there should be a transparency in compensation as many farmers have not received yet their compensation money against their land.

In many cases, the government took away the Agricultural fertile land which should not be taken for industrial purpose as they are the means of the livelihood for the many farmers.

Displaced people are rehabilitated in the place where no means of livelihood and other facilities are available so wherever people are rehabilitated the place should have all kind of facilities viz. Water, Sanitation, Health, Education, and Transportation.

The evil -effects of the displacement prompted by development should be taken care off by the state and necessary arrangement should be made. The displaced persons should be resettled in a safe habitat wherein they can start their life afresh. However, this would require more than a mere allocation of a certain piece of land for resettlement or mere construction of makeshift for temporary settlement.

Rehabilitation means the restore to the former condition of a person affected by the development projects and therefore all that was lost by displacement, the emotional, cultural, social, political, and economic losses must be restored at a priority basis to the Project itself which is the cause of impoverishment.

By Vijendra Bauddh