Tribal and Dalit families from the Urlava revenue area staged a cook-out protest at a granite quarry site on Monday. They said the government failed to issue land titles despite promises made by local MLAs. Many families now fear for their livelihoods as quarry waste damages their cashew plantations daily.
Tribal and Dalit families in Anakapalle protest delays in land titles, oppose granite quarrying and warn of an indefinite hunger strike.
Tribal and Dalit families from the Urlava revenue area staged a cook-out protest at a granite quarry site on Monday, alleging delays in issuing land titles even as quarry clearances were being granted swiftly.
The protesters demanded that the government fulfil assurances given by Madugula MLA Bandaru Satyanarayan Murthy and Chodavaram MLA Kalidindi Suryana Naga Sanyasi Raju to issue pattas to eligible beneficiaries. They also opposed granite quarrying in the area, saying their livelihoods depended on agriculture and cashew cultivation.
Villagers said around 350 tribal, Dalit and other economically disadvantaged families in Komiri village of Ravikamatam mandal had cultivated the land for years after receiving pattas. However, their details were missing from online revenue records, preventing them from securing legal ownership and related benefits.
Following repeated representations, the government constituted a committee headed by the Anakapalle district collector and joint collector in September last year. The committee included the Narsipatnam RDO, the assistant directors of mines and survey, and the Madugula tahsildar. Officials subsequently conducted a survey in the area, villagers said.
At a public meeting in Vommali panchayat in October last year, the Chodavaram and Madugula MLAs reportedly assured residents that pattas would be issued by the Sankranti festival after completion of the survey. However, villagers alleged that no progress had been made even seven months later.
The protesters questioned why granite quarry permissions were being processed swiftly while land-title applications submitted by poor tribal and Dalit farmers remained pending for years. They also alleged that quarry waste was being dumped in cashew plantations cultivated by tribal farmers.
Several women participated in the protest. CPI(M) district executive member K. Govinda Rao and Girijana Sangham leader Solam Rajababu attended the protest and supported the villagers' demands.