It looks like the KCR government in Telangana has taken it as a prestigious issue the construction of Malllanna Sagar reservoir in Medak district by forcibly acquiring 20,900 acres of land from farmers of 14 villages which would be submerged under the project.
Irrigation minister T Harish Rao is sitting in Siddipet and calling village elders for negotiations so as to force them to surrender their lands.
Every evening, there is a press statement from Harish Rao’s office stating that the villagers were voluntarily surrendering their lands for the Malllanna Sagar project and very soon, all the villages would come forward for the land acquisition.
However, the KCR government has imposed severe restrictions on the entry of political leaders and those from people’s organisations into the villages.
In the last three days, the police arrested the Congress leaders and others even before they started off from Hyderabad.
One wonders why the government was restricting the movement of political leaders in the villages, if the people are voluntarily surrendering their lands for the project.
Apparently, the government is using coercive methods on the villagers to give up their lands; and if the Opposition leaders go there, the government would be exposed.
