Farmers land in trouble

By SNV Sudhir

Bhamini (Srikakulam), Oct 10: Now, the farmers in around 5 to 6 villages of Bhamini mandal in Srikakulam are scared to enter their own fields. They are in a grip of fear that the outlawed Maoists would brutally kill them if they try to till their own land. Around 60 farmers of the village are still in a state of shock after they recently received a final warning in written by the Secretary of the Kondabaridi Area Committee of the CPI (Maoists) Prakash listing the acres of land each farmer has to leave for the local tribals of around 5 villages. Two years back the farmers received similar warnings but the Maoists did not execute their threat at that time, as there was no crop due to severe draught conditions. These farmers who were in joyous mood and excited a few months ago due to sufficient rainfall are now in a state of nervousness. “It was all fine till two months ago. We were happily cultivating our lands but suddenly in the end of July they called a group of farmers and asked us to give away some part of our lands to the local tribals. I have only 5 acres and they asked me to give away all the 5 acres belonging to me as I’m working out on 10 acres on lease. We suffered for around 3 years due to severe draught conditions and when we thought those good days begun for us due to recent rains , this new problem came up. I cannot do anything except listen to them as they will kill me,” said Narayana.These farmers are in a confused state, as they cannot share this information to anyone. “The naxals threatened that they would kill us if we tell this to anyone especially the police and press. What to do now we cannot do anything. Nothing is in our hands,” said another farmer whose son just joined medicine course in Guntur. His son is the first person to join medicine from the in and around villages. “I paid Rs 13,000 for the first year and I send between Rs 2,000 to 3,000 for his maintenance charges at Guntur which is a very meager amount these days. And now I’m not in a position to send him regularly. These lands are the only source of income,” said the farmer. He added that even the outlawed had also threatened five of his other brothers to give away their lands. In first phase the naxals had threatened around 40 to 50 farmers and embarked on distributing around 300 to 400 acres of land spread in Sannayaguda, Vetamguda, Burjaguda, Boddaguda, Moolaguda to the tribals. It was reported that these naxals are planning to grab around 1,200 acres in coming months and ask the tribals to plough it. Due to the recent developments other farmers in the 35 villages under the Bhamini mandal are also tense. “I think they train their guns towards us. Some day or other these incidents may force us to leave our villages,” said another farmer of Bhamini. “Keep the cultivation aside, now we are not even in a position to enter our lands. We cannot do anything against their will. They will kill us. If we seek the police for protection they will not be with us all the time. They cannot accompany each and every farmer while even going for a wash” said Savaraiah. It was on August 15 the first batch of tribals cultivated the lands according to the directions of the Maoists “ Annalu told us to cultivate the lands saying that these lands were ‘liberated’ from the hands of landlords and can cultivate on their own. So we started cultivating them,” said Jajjaru of Vetamguda who threatened that he would harm this correspondent if he captures him in his camera. The Palakonda police under whose jurisdiction Bhamini falls had registered trespassing and land grabbing cases against 24 tribals of these villages following the act of tilling the land as per the directions of the naxals. The police registered the case without any report or complaint. “ We are having some information about these incidents but none came forward to file report or complaint but we have slapped cases upon 24 tribals for the act of tilling the land on that particular land with the support of Maoists. What else can we do? We have some plans to curb these activities in future” said the DSP of Palakonda division P V Krishnaiah. The Revenue Divisional Officer of Palakonda, J M J Babu said that they even had the information about the tribals cultivating in the lands of private persons with the support of the Maoists. He added that from the government side they were planning to distribute some acres of lands in the mandal to the landless in coming months. One acre of land costs around Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 and the farmers get an income of around Rs 20,000 per acre for a single paddy crop. And most of the farmers cultivate paddy in this region besides a little cotton. All the lands in these villages are rain fed.