Polavaram irrigation project: Hopes drowned in uncertainty Premium

Compensation promised to over 1 lakh families displaced by Polavaram project has remained elusive for over a decade, thanks to political and bureaucratic hurdles

For the past 10 years, Nagaraju, a 35-year-old tribal man from Mulakapalli village in Andhra Pradesh’s Godavari district, had been clinging to a fragile thread of hope. Displaced by the Polavaram irrigation project, which cuts through the Godavari region in the State, his four-member family has beenanxiously awaiting the promised rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) package since 2014. The Centre-funded project spans A.P., Odisha, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh, with A.P. bearing 90% of its impact. As a new leadership took over the reins in the State earlier this month, Nagaraju expected to finally see the end of his struggle.

However, those hopes were dashed when Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu visited the project site on June 17. Naidu’s remark that the project completion could take at least four more years and was hinged on numerous uncertainties hit Nagaraju like a thunderbolt.

Nagaraju, who works as a construction worker at a rehabilitation colony in Taduvai in the district, is not alone in his disappointment. Thousands of others like him had anticipated that the new government would expedite the project, ensuring not just its completion but also the timely delivery of their long-awaited R&R packages. Some tribal families were provided land, but many others were left without the compensation they were promised.

“All these years, even after displacement, we were hoping the State government would take suitable action. The successive governments did not implement the promised R&R packages. Many displaced families are yet to receive full compensation,” adds Nagaraju.

The Polavaram project, initially estimated to displace 44,570 families from 371 villages across eight revenue blocks in 2014, saw the number of affected families surge to 98,818 by 2014-15, with 80% being tribals. They were promised rehabilitation in alternative locations like Buttaigudem, Jeelugumilli, Darbhagudem, and Yetapaka in Godavari district. Now, a decade on, the number of families facing displacement is over 1.06 lakh.

In Polavaram mandal alone, 23 villages were vacated, with villagers shifted to R&R colonies. For those displaced from Velerupadu and Kukkunur mandals, rehabilitation colonies were constructed near Jangareddygudem town, which falls under the Chinthalapudi Assembly segment of Eluru Lok Sabha constituency. Over 22,000 families were to be relocated to Challavarigudem (Taduvai colony), but the government failed to complete construction of all the houses. What’s more, housing for Rudramkota villagers, which will be submerged once the project is completed, has not yet begun.

Of these 371 habitations, 123 comprising 21,000 families, inhabited mainly by Konda Reddi and Koya tribes, are being rehabilitated in the first phase of the R&R package scheduled to be completed by August.