Woman labourer turns landlord

In a dramatic development, a daily labourer, who used to work for a landlord several years ago, becomes the owner of the ‘Dora Gadi,’ thanks to the State government’s land for poor scheme

Peddarathupalli (Karimnagar): In a strange turn of events, a Dalit woman, Aarepalli Durgamma, who worked as a labour in ‘Dora Gadi’ (building of a landlord), has become the owner of the building.

She carried stones on her shoulders for the construction of the building for just Re 1 a day years ago, but now Durgamma is the proud owner of the two-storey building at Peddarathupalli village in Karimnagar district.

Thanks to the State government’s prestigious ‘three-acres land to Dalits’ scheme, the daily labourer has got the ownership of the sprawling building. The poor woman is, however, not able to eke a living out of the building.

If she had been given farmland, instead of building, as part of the government’s programme of “land to Dalits,” she would have been able to meet her both ends. She is finding it difficult to demolish the limestone structure and use the land for agriculture purpose.

She is also unable to stay in the building as it is far away from the residential area. The district administration has so far distributed 63 acres land to 21 Dalits belonging to Peddarathipalli and Chinnarathipalli villages under Kalwasrirampur mandal recently.

The land is part of 500 acres owned by a landlord Kalva Pratap Reddy, who used to dictate terms. The State government took over the lands after the death of Pratap Reddy. Known as Gollapalli Dora, Pratap Reddy, who used to have private security, was killed by the then Peoples War Naxatlies on January 18, 1987 by shooting him in front of his house.

Unable to digest the death of her husband, Pratap Reddy’s wife Radamma immediately committed suicide by consuming pesticides. Both of them were buried besides the building where a tomb was constructed.

After the death of Dora, his son Ramana Reddy stayed in the house for some time but he left the village after some time. He was also attacked by naxalites and burnt the house twice, a villager said. Sharing her childhood days with The Hans India,

Durgamma said she, along with her father Kalvala Chandraiah, used to visit the “Gadi” regularly for work. A 60 year-old woman, Durgamma said she used to clean the surroundings of the building and water vegetable orchards when she was 10 or 15- years-old.