Villagers threaten mass suicides over land acquisition

Kothagudem (Krishna district), May 8, 2015: The residents of Kothagudem village near Gannavaram in Krishna district threatened to commit suicides en masse if the Government goes ahead with the proposal of taking away their houses in the village for constructing the Polavaram canal. “If you don’t exempt our houses and lands from acquisition, we will commit mass suicides at the houses of MLA and officials by consuming pesticide,” the villagers told the revenue officers who visited the village to inspect the houses for acquisition. MLA Vallabhaneni Vamsimohan, Project special deputy collector D. Sudarshan Rao and other officials visited the village and spoke to the villagers. The officials told the villagers the canal will have a width of 320 meters and the required land would be acquired. The villagers asked the officials and the MLA not to touch their houses.”If you acquire our houses and lands in the village by force, we will commit mass suicides,” they threatened. Then the officials tried to convince them by saying they would seek exemption for the houses of poor people from acquisition by speaking to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. The villagers later told journalists that the politicians changed the design of the Polavaram canal for their selfish ends. ”Because of their selfishness, we are about to lose our lands and houses, ” they contended.