HC’s order gives hope to project-affected families

A recent order of the Hyderabad High Court has given a ray of hope to hundreds of project affected families in the Telugu states.

While dealing with petitions by affected families from the Mallannasagar reservoir, the court told the TS government that lands which have been acquired for the project should not be taken possession of till resettlement and rehabilitation is provided to the affected families.

It had given a similar direction to the AP government in a public interest litigation brought by the AP Agricultural Workers Union.

Advocate Ravi Kumar said these orders have given hope to the affected families and many others are moving the court for relief.

He said that the AP government had stated before the High Court that there were no artisans, agriculture labourers or other families in the areas covered by the 448 notifications issued for the land acquisition.

When the High Court questioned this, the government fell into line and submitted an affidavit stating that 1,755 affected families in 133 notifications had been identified and some more time is required to identify the families in the remaining 19 notifications.

Though the Land Acquisition Act mandates door to door survey for identifying the affected families in both states, no such surveys have been done, said lawyer B Rachna Reddy. With the recent order, affected families will approach the court and build up pressure on both governments to provide the benefits mandated by law.