Labourer becomes the owner of Dora Gadi

Peddarathupalli (Karimnagar): A dalit woman, Aarepalli Durgamma, who worked as a labourer in ‘Dora Gadi’ (building of a land lord), has become the owner of the building. She carried the bricks on her shoulder to build the structure on a paltry sum of Re 1 per a day, and now has become the owner of the double storied building free of cost. Thanks to the State government’s prestigious scheme of gifting three acres of land to the dalits, Durgammma got the opportunity to become the owner of the building.

Though the poor woman became the owner of Dora Gadi on her three acres of land, she is unable to demolish the structure and use the land for agricultural purposes since the building, which was built by using ‘dung sunnam’, is very strong. Moreover, she was unable to stay in the Gadi as it was located far away from the residential area of Peddarathupalli.

As part of the land scheme, the district administration recently distributed 63 acres of land to 21 dalits living in Peddarathupalli and Chinnarathipalli villages of Kalwa Srirampur mandal, 55 kilometres away from the district headquarters. The entire 63 acres of land was a small piece of more than 500 acres land owned by a landlord Kalva Pratap Reddy, who used to dictate terms in the surrounding villages of the mandal. The State government took over the lands after the death of Pratap Reddy.

Known as Gollapalli Dora, Pratap Reddy, who used to maintain private security, was shot dead by the naxalites of the Peoples War Group (PWG) on January 18, 1987. Unable to come to come to terms with the death of her husband, Pratap Reddy’s wife Redamma immediately committed suicide by consuming pesticides. Both of them were buried adjacent to the building where a tomb was also constructed.

After the death of Dora, his son Ramana Reddy stayed in the house for sometime, but later, he left the village. He was also attacked by naxalites and his house burnt twice, a villager said. Sharing her childhood days with The Hans India on Wednesday, Durgamma said that she along with her father Kalvala Chandraiah used to visit ‘Gadi’ regularly to attend to works. A 60 year-old woman, Durgamma said she used to clean the surroundings of building and supply water to vegetable orchards at the age of 10 to 15 years. She also participated in the construction works of the Gadi, she added.

For the first time, she cultivated cotton crop in 20 guntas of land. Stating that she was unable to cultivate on the entire three acres due to presence of the building and scarcity of water, she urged the district administration to take measures to demolish the structure. Durgamma was staying in a small hut along with her son Vijay and daughter-in-law Swarupa, on whose name the land was allocated.

Another beneficiary, Bandela Srinivas said that people were so scared even to pass through the Dora Gadi wearing slippers. Pratap Reddy used to move in mango orchard and agricultural fields along with private security persons since he was on the hit list of the Maoists. Highlighting the positive side of Gadi, another beneficiary, Maheshula Sobha said that the people from the surrounding villages used to visit it to get medicine for treating snake bites, ear pain, fever and other diseases. Dorasani Redamma used provide medicines for simple disease.