'Many villagers yet to receive compensation': Activists move NHRC over Andhra's Gandikota project

Roughly 9,000 families would be displaced by the project, which would also submerge six villages.

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Alleging that the Gandikota reservoir in Andhra Pradesh would entirely submerge six villages, the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM) approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday.

This came a day before Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu's scheduled visit to inaugurate the project in Kadapa district.

The NAPM alleged that the “due process of law and rehabilitation as per the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation Act, 2013 and AP Rehabilitation Policy, 2005 was not followed."

“Most people claim they are yet to receive compensation. Notably , there are serious flaws in the land acquisition. Rehabilitation is far from satisfactory. Over the past two weeks hundreds of elderly people, women, men and children have been peacefully protesting on the streets," the petition was quoted as saying.

Gandikota reservoir was first conceived in 2006, by the then Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) to provide irrigation water to the farmers of his constituency, Pulivendula.

The project has been taken up with a renewed interest by Naidu, since he came into power.

The plan is to give water to the Gandikota reservoir through the Owk reservoir and lift water using a pump-house into the Paidipalem reservoir before finally diverting water to Pulivendula through branch canals.

Out of the roughly 9,000 families which are categorised as Project Displaced Families (PDFs), the government itself claims that 5,700 families are yet to avail the benefits, while 3,300 families have availed partial or full benefits.