Tribal oustee suffers cardiac arrest, dies

In a shocking incident, an oustee — 35-year-old Banothu Hanumanthu — of this tribal habitation, attached to Etigaddakishtapur village suffered a cardiac arrest and died at the government hospital at Gajwel on Monday. He is survived by his wife and three children — a 14-year-old boy and two girls aged 10 and 7.

This tanda with some 60 houses and 200 population, in Toguta mandal, would get submerged under Mallannasagar, part of the larger Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, in the next few months.

The residents of this tribal habitation are under tremendous pressure for the past five days to vacate the village and a majority of residents are reluctant to vacate the village and they made it clear to the officials time and again. Unable to bear the pressure some of the villagers decided to shift to the new Rehabilitation and Resettlement colony that is coming up at Mutrajpally and on Sunday they hired transport vehicles to shift their belongings. However, at the last minute they decided against making the shift as the amount offered to them as compensation was less than what was offered in the past and worse the officials did not hand over cheques to them.

On Monday, some officials of the Revenue department came to the Tanda and started measuring the open places. This increased the pressure on Hanumanthu, who had fallen ill about a year ago. Mr. Hanumanthu developed a cardiac problem and was immediately shifted to government hospital where he died.

“Mr. Hanumanthu has lost two acres land for a canal few years ago and he did not get compensation for that as it was assigned land. Now he is losing another three acres of land, for which officials said that he would not get any compensation as it was assigned land. Further, his mother was also not given any package. All this has increased pressure on Hanumanthu leading to his suffering a cardiac arrest and subsequent death,” Banothu Raju, another residents of the Tanda told The Hindu.

“Mr. Hanumanthu lost about two acres of land in Pranahitha- Chevella canal about a decade back and he was reportedly not paid compensation as it was government land. A cheque has been drawn up in his name and we have already shown it to him and told him that it would be handed over to him along with others. His death was not related to payment,” said a revenue officer, on condition of anonymity, admitting that general pressure, being faced by all others, may have been the reason.