28th July 2013, Fact Finding Team from NAPM visits Ghatkesar. --------- Report prepared by Saraswati Kavula. During the first monthly meeting of NAPM in Hyderabad, held on 20th July, it was decided to visit Ghatkesar. So on 28th July, a small team of us (Dr. Baburao, Dr. D. Narasimha Reddy, Saraswati Kavula and Sharath Babu) had visited Ghatkesar Mandal as planned. We visited the villages of Poturajugudem, Madharam and Ankushapur villages in Ghatkesar Mandal which is about 25 kilometers from Uppal Cross Roads. These are the last villages of RR dist, bordering Nalgonda district. Poturajugudem is the hamlet of Edulabad and has a population of about 400-500 people. Edulabad is a major panchayat with a population of 10,000 approx. incl. Poturajugudem. Madharam is a hamlet of Ankushapur and has a population of 1500 people and Ankushapur has a population of about 5,000 approx. including Madharam. In this area there is a Reserve Forest – Edulabad Reserve Forest and adjacent to the Reserve forest is the Dasha Gutta Hill. The village Ankushapur is on the North East of Dasha Gutta and the village Madharam is on the South East of Dasha Gutta. The village Edulabad and its hamlet Poturajugudem is on the South west of Edulabad RF. ORIENTATION: Ankushapur Industrial Zone - North East of Edulabad RF and Dasha Gutta Hills. (Conservation zone turned to Residential zone) EDULABAD R. FOREST and DASHA GUTTA Hills Madharam Industrial park including Tette Cheruvu (South East of RF and Dasha Gutta) Edulabad Industrial Park - South West of RF and Hills. This area falls under the Musi River Basin and there are many tanks that form the part of the Musi River system. In Edulabad there are 3 tanks – Poturajugudem cheruvu, Edulabad cheruvu, Anantaram cheruvu. In Madharam there is Tette Cheruvu (which is just below the Dasha Gutta) and close by is the Enkiryala Cheruvu. And near Ankushapur which is north of Madharam is the Enkiryala Chinna Cheruvu. Water from Musi River flows from Narayanrao Katwa into Edulabad cheruvu, from here it fills the Poturajugudem Cheruvu, then from here it fills Anantaram Cheruvu. The overflow from Anantaram travels 2 kms and once again goes into the Musi near Anantaram Katwa. From Anantaram Katwa one channel goes towards Musi Project in Suryapet and another channel fills the Enkirala Cheruvu in Madharam and from here the water goes to Chinna Enkirala Cheruvu in Ankushapur. Next to Ankushapur is Padamati Somaram village which has the Padamati Somaram Cheruvu. This tank is a rain fed tank and has pure water. But right now a pipeline is under construction to take the water from Enkirala cheruvu to this tank. So in future, this tank will also receive the polluted waters of Musi River. Water from Dasha gutta goes to Tette Cheruvu in Madharam. This also is a purely rain fed Tank and has fresh water. Musi River is already highly polluted with all the sewerage and industrial wastes flowing into the river and now a 14kms pipeline from Patancheru is directly dumping its wastes into Musi in the East side where Ghatkesar mandal is located. Thus the tanks which are naturally part of the Musi River system are already polluted by the Musi pollution. However, now canals are being dug to carry the Musi waters to fill up dozens of other tanks like the Padamati Somaram Cheruvu. This will pollute hitherto unpolluted areas, which had tanks that were totally rain fed. Though some environmentalists like Pittala Srisailam had been opposing this move as the Polluted waters would destroy the hitherto unpolluted dry lands of these villages, the local farmers were welcoming the coming in of the Musi water, as it would give them extra income – since with these waters they too can grow Paddy like the existing villages that are getting Musi water. In this scenario, the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation - APIIC had identified three areas for Industrial Parks in the villages of Poturajugudem, Madapur and Ankushapur. The idea is to shift the existing polluting industries from the existing industrial zones inside the Hyderabad city to areas outside the Outer Ring Road – one of which is Ghatkesar Mandal. The premise is that since anyway they are polluting Musi River, by shifting the industries, they can directly dump their wastes into the Musi as they will be close by. However, the bigger issue here is to free up the space of existing Industrial Parks in Hyderabad to be able sell as commercial land / real estate, while creating newer areas of pollution and destroying many more people’s lives. The Proposed Industrial Zones and the ground situation: Ankushapur Industrial Zone / Park is situated north of Dasha Gutta and the Reserve Forest. The land identified for this Industrial Park was marked as conservation zone in the HUDA master plan of 2008 and the HMDA Draft master plan of 2011. However, it got re-recognised as residential area in the HMDA Master plan of 2013. The land identified in survey numbers 158 to 165 a total of 160 acres approximately. Most of this land is Assigned land given to landless poor in the past decades. In 2000 this land was denotified and taken back by the MRO using POT Act in 2000. But the farmers are continuing to use this land for cultivation and animal grazing even now. However, this order by the MRO was cancelled in 2008 by the RDO and was reassigned to the original patta holders in 2008. But the title holders had no clue about this reversal of fate and were continuing to believe that they lost the claim over their lands. Then the middlemen went and bought the land and got it registered in their names. Farmers sold the land for 50,000 to 1lakh an acre and the highest amount paid was 4, 25,000 that too only to one upper caste person who was the ex-vice Sarpanch of Ankushapur. Farmers were told that since they won’t get much rate as this was govt. Land, and they don’t have clear pattas. Thus many sold their lands to the middlemen. The market value at that time was about 30-40 lakhs per acre. Now about 111 acres of the total land is registered in the name of the Middlemen directly while 48 acres is still in govt. name. This entire land was actually in conservation zone in HUDA master plan 2008 and HMDA Draft Master plan 2011. But by 2013 February Master plan of HMDA this zone was converted to residential zone due to pressures from middlemen. They had indulged in this as this would bring higher compensation when land would be acquired by APIIC for the industrial zone. Local activists say that Revenue officials, retired officers from APIIC, their relatives and the middlemen had formed into a syndicate to achieve this feat. The Industrial Zone of Madharam – This falls on the South side of Dasah Gutta and Tette Cheruvu is also part of the identified Industrial Zone of Madharam; in survey number 225 – which is a total of 299 acres 27 guntas. This zone has been identified as Multipurpose zone both in HUDA master plan of 2008 and HMDA Draft and Master Plans of 2011 and 2013. One wonders how an area containing a tank was identified as Multipurpose zone instead of it being a conservation zone? The entire area marked for Industrial zone has been notified and consent letters from the current DKT patta holders (assigned land farmers) has been taken by the Revenue authorities. The Edulabad / Poturajugudem Industrial zone: Here, 174 acres and 5 guntas land has been identified in survey no:s 185, 443, 492. Out of this govt. assigned land is about 20% while the rest are private lands. This proposed Industrial zone is within half kilometer from Poturajugudem cheruvu and Musi River. In both HUDA master plan 2008 and HMDA Draft master plan 2011, this area was shown as open space and buffer zone. However, in the latest HMDA Master plan it was shown as a multipurpose zone. Here too the Revenue authorities have taken consent letters from the assigned land owners while the private patta lands have been purchased by the Industrial houses. However farmers are still doing agriculture in this village also. The Big Issue: The biggest threat to this area is that now the pollution is only from the water and it gets slightly diluted as it travels over miles from Hyderabad to Ghatkesar. But that is already changed what with the full pollution directly hitting them with the Patancheru pipeline. Now with the setting up of the Industries, there shall be air, land, water pollution. And when more pollution is dumped into the Musi directly the impacts of pollution will be manifold and since the waters of Musi are going downstream to hundreds of tanks directly by the newly built canals or already existent channels, it is going to create Havoc for the lakhs of people living in downstream villages of Musi. Our Visit: We first reached Poturajugudem and Edulabad junction. Here we were met by some of the local people and the ex-MLA of Bhongir, Narasimha Reddy. Some of the local people stopped by when they saw the group standing on the road side looking at the Maps and Toposheets of the area. The local people said, “We are hoping to get some jobs and income generation if the industries come here”. Dr. Babu Rao explained the problems that will occur having these Hazardous industries in their vicinity and how these days setting up of industries doesn’t necessarily increase jobs, instead destroys existing livelihoods. The local people said it would be good if we could come again and address larger gathering of people so that everyone in the area can understand the problems from these Proposed Industrial zones. The people in Poturajugudem are growing rice fed by the Musi Water. The water is polluted therefore there is a smell of chemicals that emanates from the paddy fields. However, for most of the people it is their only livelihood. We talked to the farmers in the paddy fields and they were a worried lot. Especially the elderly people, “we shall lose our livelihoods, the place will get polluted.” We moved on and saw the area that was to be taken away for the Industrial Zone, and almost all of it was covered with Paddy fields. From Poturajugudem we went to the village of Madhapur, where we came across a group of young people from DYFI who were protesting the digging of canals of the Musi, saying that it had become dangerous for people to commute and even a bus had fallen into the canal once. Our interaction with the youth was very lively and good. While some of them felt they will get jobs, they also agreed that it would cause pollution and create health issues. One of the boys of the village aged 23, who studied ITI was already working in a nearby chemical industry that was manufacturing paper pulp. He said that he doesn’t feel in full health since his work there. He gets paid 4,500 a month and has to work long hours and his job is not permanent. The youth said that instead of giving 600 acres land to the industries and destroying their villages, the govt. could give an acre or two for each landless youth and thus they will be able to stand on their own feet without any govt. investments. From Madharam we went to Ankushapur via Dasha gutta and Edulabad reserve forest, and enroute also saw Enkirala Cheruvu and Poturajugudem cheruvu among others. Near Dasha Gutta, we met an old farmer who was grazing his cattle and he said, he was unaware of the Industrial zone and was very much angry at the prospect of losing his land. He said that he talked to the MRO and the MRO said that his land will not be taken if he didn’t wish to part with it. However, one has to find some more information to qualify this aspect. In Ankushapur, we talked to the Sarpanch and a few other local elders and it was agreed upon that we should go again and talk to larger gatherings of people. Report prepared by Saraswati Kavula. ---------------------------------------- Dear Saraswathi garu, Very well done report. I think we need to focus on what needs to be done further, both at the field level and at the administration level. I would feel the best bet is to work at the field level, give them tools and facilitate their engagement with the decision-makers. more later. narasimha reddy ----------------------------------------- Its a great rich journey with so many water bodies by all of you to the above villages but with many past and future concerns, mainly of receiving direct Pipelines carrying heavy pollutants. I will not miss next time accompanying all of you and also plan what can be done to the best. ----------------------------------------------- Dear All, For better understanding, would be good to have pictures and pictorial representation of the area. Regards, --------------------- Excellent summary Saraswati! Pl forward such mails to Soul network also for wider cross sharing with all interested in lakes and building a cross linkages between networks to strengthen citizen awareness nd participation. tks jasveen Lubna ...pl put this visit summary on Soul bwebsite...jj
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 08:26:58 +0000
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