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3-acre land parcel scheme to Dalits moves at a snail’s pace
Even after two years of the Telangana government announcing its prestigious policy of allotting three acres of land to poor Dalit families, only 2,236 families have been given the benefit so far of the 14 lakh Dalit families in the State.
Hyderabad: Even after two years of the Telangana government announcing its prestigious policy of allotting three acres of land to poor Dalit families, only 2,236 families have been given the benefit so far of the 14 lakh Dalit families in the State.
So far 3,589 landless Dalit families have been identified in nine districts, barring Hyderabad. People’s organisations have voiced that the land distribution won’t be completed even after 100 years if the government continues the policy implantation at the present rate.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, while announcing the policy on August 15, 2014, said land to Dalits would be allotted during the next four years and water would be supplied in the first year itself.
The identification of beneficiaries and purchase/distribution of land has become a challenge to the government with officials finding it difficult to identify the landless poor Dalits in villages apart from acquiring lands.
The government is spending Rs 3.85 lakh on an average for one acre. In some districts, Rs 6 lakh per acre has been paid. In Mahbubnagar district, where lands are cheap, an acre costs Rs 2 lakh.
None has come forward to sell lands to the government following its announcement and wants it to focus on providing irrigation water to one crore acres. Besides, the policy is not making headway due of lack of adequate statistics of the actual number of landless poor Dalit families.
Although the government wants to allot land, it has not found land suitable for agriculture. It has spent Rs 395 crore for purchasing both government (160 acres) and private land (3,429 acres). Pidamarthi Ravi, Chairman, SC Development Corporation says,
"The government is regularly spending funds on land distribution to Dalits. Land has been acquired from farmers and also from those settled abroad under the Walk to Land Programme."
Officials are depending on only the Sakalajana Survey to identify the land beneficiaries. Ravi said the issue of receiving representations from many educated Dalits for allotment of land would be discussed soon with the Chief Minister.
He is confident of moving ahead with the policy keeping in view the experience gained during the last two years.
