The Left parties are also concerned about the displacement of people though the CPI(M) is not opposed to the dam per se. Its state secretary B.V. Raghavulu says the party has no objection to the project but wants the present height of 151 ft to be reduced. The CPI, though, will join hands with the NBA to agitate against the dam. Since Khammam falls in the Telangana, a strong opponent to the project is theTRS. Says the party's R. Vidyasagar Rao: "Rajasekhara Reddy is using muscle power and big contractors to bulldoze his way. Techno-economic clearance by the ministry of water resources covering issues like hydrology, design, inter-state submergence, economic feasibility is pending. Approval of the resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) package by the ministry of social justice and empowerment too has not come through. How can the government go ahead in the face of all this?" he fumes. Vidyasagar wonders how a project report rejected by the Central Water Commission 70 times since 1983 could gain sudden approval.
Sitapati Rao, irrigation advisor to the AP government, however, scoffs at the "alarmist theories" being put out by environmentalists. "Why do these activists want tribals to lead isolated lives, struggling for food and going about half-naked in the forests? Our relief and rehabilitation package at Rs 4,500-cr is the best in the country," he says. "In the name of rehabilitation, we are actually developing them," explains Rao, saying the displaced populace would be provided with land, colonies and community halls.
Tribals in the area are in no mood for these homilies though. Besides the R&R package, the government is silent on compensation to non-tribals who form a quarter of the total population to be displaced. While the displacement is not on the same scale as that of the Sardar Sarovar project on the Narmada, the sheer numbers of affected tribals is alarming.
All the affected villagers plan to come together under the AP Girijan Sangham and like-minded bodies to form an anti-dam coalition. Once these groups organise themselves in the coming months,YSR will have to brace himself against those affected who already seem to be in a militant mood.
