Pawan Kalyan meets with people displaced by Amaravati and Polavaram, assures help

After highlighting kidney-related diseases in the Uddanam region of the state, actor-politician Pawan Kalyan has now urged the Andhra government to look into issues of farmer displacement, especially with regard to the Polavaram project and Amaravati. 

Speaking to a delegation of displaced villagers at the Jana Sena party office in Hyderabad on Wednesday, he assured the visitors of his support, even adding that he would visit the area if required.

According to reports, Mulalanka farmers from the Polavaram project area poured out their woes over the lands belonging to SC and STs being taken away forcibly, while farmers from the Amaravati region spoke about the loss of their fertile farmlands.

Speaking to mediapersons after the meeting, Pawan stated that the impact of land acquisition should be minimised.

“Land acquisition for development is a necessary evil in civilisation. We have to ensure the impact on the people is minimised and how it is to be done is left to the wisdom of the rulers...I will study the issue in more depth. They have invited me to visit their villages and see for myself their situation. I am thinking of paying a visit,” he was quoted as saying.

He also went on to add, “Many say I am soft spoken and my criticism of Chandrababu Naidu is soft like flower. But, my only intention is to see the solution to the problem. When everything fails, people's movements become necessary. I do not want that at this stage."

In the first week of January, Pawan visited villages in north-coastal Andhra, to highlight the Uddanam Nephropathy phenomenon.

According to the World Health Organization, Uddanam is one of the three regions in the world with the highest concentration of chronic kidney diseases.

"Currently lakhs are affected with this chronic kidney disease known as ‘Uddanam Nephropathy'. Successive governments and honourable legislative members of the last two decades could not address this issue effectively," he had tweeted, after his visit.

The party's media team also documented sufferings of the people.

Read - Uddanam Nephropathy: What is Andhra's mysterious kidney disease?