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649 Dalit women allotted land with huge boulders
“Waste land and that too, too rocky,” that is what most of the beneficiaries of the government’s three-acre land scheme for Dalits lamented.
Adilabad: “Waste land and that too, too rocky,” that is what most of the beneficiaries of the government’s three-acre land scheme for Dalits lamented.
As many as 75 beneficiaries of the scheme spewed fire on the State government and the officials concerned for allotting waste land to them that is not fit for cultivation.
They criticised that the officials have given them lands full of boulders, instead of arable lands. The government rules and regulations stipulate that the lands to be allotted to Dalits should be fit for cultivation with irrigation facility. But not even one acre of the land given has irrigation facilities, they lamented.
The beneficiaries lamented that they were forced to give up the lands, as they are full of huge boulders. Those, who have managed to remove the boulders and raise some crops, incurred debts as they failed to get any yield.
As many as 649 poor Dalit women were allotted lands in the district for which the government purchased for Rs 70 crore. 80 per cent lands were found to be of no use to the beneficiaries. Officials of revenue department and SC Corporation were allegedly involved in the purchase of lands filled with huge boulders or granite stones, from the land owners after accepting commissions, Dalit Sangham leader Mallanna alleged.
He and others of various dalit organisations alleged that the government had purchased the useless land at the rate of Rs 4.2 lakh per acre when the price could not be more than Rs one lakh. Dalit organisations have demanded a comprehensive inquiry into the purchase of these lands.
A beneficiary, Rajamma told The Hans India that she cannot take up cultivation even after removing the stones. Grumbling over the failure of cotton crop she sowed in the allotted land, Rajamma lashed out at the government saying, “Allotment of such lands won’t serve any purpose.
Besides, we incurred debts for taking up cultivation in these lands”.Another beneficiary, Vijay said the plough broke when he tried to till the land. ‘It could not get into the soil forcing me to abandon the land.’
A dalit woman Kavita stated that allotment of such land won’t be of any use to the beneficiaries, while Ushamma complained that her land was full of huge stones. She complained that several stones are popping out when she tilled the land with a tractor. ‘I hardly see any soil’, her husband Pochaiah told THI.
He said they have to spend Rs 30,000 for removing the boulders. “But still more and more stones are surfacing. I could not get even a quital yield after cultivating soya. Now I am left with debts,’ he lamented.
By Thotla Chinna Anjaiah
