Over 12,000 families pin hopes on permanent solution
Visakhapatnam: Decadeslong ‘Simhachalam panchagramulu’ land issue has once again taken centre stage at the Assembly as Visakhapatnam MLAs came together to highlight the need to resolve it at the earliest.
During elections, the parties consider this as an effective ‘agenda’ to draw voters’ attention to gain political mileage.
Post elections, the issue, however, failed to move an inch forward.
Before elections, party leaders assure that soon after they get elected, they would resolve the land issue at ‘Simhachalam panchagramulu’.
Once voted to power, they reason that the issue continues to be pending in the court.
As a result, people lost faith in political leaders despite the party they belong to. It is the same challenge, Bheemunipatnam MLA Ganta Srinviasa Rao brought forward without mincing words during the Assembly sessions.
“I have been in politics for the past three decades. History will not forgive if concrete steps are not taken to resolve the land issue of five villages -- Adavivaram, Vepagunta, Chimalapalli, Venkatapuram and Purushothapuram at Simhachalam, following strict timelines and without dragging it any further.
Every problem has a solution. Unfortunately, the issue of five villages remains unresolved for the past 30 years,” he reiterated.
In 1996, N Chandrababu Naidu appointed an Assembly House Committee under the chairmanship of the late Gunda Appala Suryanarayana.
He brought 578 GO in 2000 and revised it as GO 229 in 2019 during his tenure as Chief Minister to regularise the panchagramalu lands at a nominal price.
Former chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy, who was in the Opposition then, assured that he would regularise the lands of the five villages for free of cost. However, after coming to power in 2004, he did not do anything in favour of villagers and also cancelled the GO 578.
After a long time, an army of Visakhapatnam MLAs joined hands to raise the issue of the five villages.
In the Assembly session, MLAs Panchakarla Ramesh, Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu, P Vishnu Kumar Raju, Government Whip and Visakhapatnam west constituency MLA PGVR Naidu (Gana Babu) underlined the seriousness of the five villages and the need to provide relief to the people of ‘panchagramalu’.
Involving Advocate General, Principal Secretary of endowments and revenue, local MLAs and in-charge Minister, Vishnu Kumar Raju recommended forming a committee to ensure the panchagramalu issue sees a solution for good.
Tracing the history of panchagramalu that dates back to 1903, Gana Babu appealed to the Speaker to ensure that the farmers and residents of the villages get ownership rights of their lands through the committee.
Sharing similar views, Velagapudi Ramakrishna Babu too advocated early resolution of panchagramalu land issue.
Earlier, it was under Chandrababu Naidu’s tenure, regularisation of panchagramalu was mooted. With the NDA government coming to power again, over 12,000 families of panchagramalu now look forward to a permanent solution for their decade-long woes.
