Is Gajwel going to be KCR’s Waterloo?

• Why KCR is facing some sort of resentment in Gajwel?
• Unlimited land acquisition turns as election issue there
• Why KCR is seen in negative shade despite development of Gajwel?
• Has development in Gajwel become a double-edged knife?
• Why some people want MLA than CM to their constituency?
• *KCR’s margin in Gajwel in 2018 was 50,000 votes
• Development witnessed in every corner of the segment
• Some section of farmers happy with the escalating land prices
• Severe discontent among the land-losers for projects and unemployed youth
• General anti-incumbency seen in Gajwel too
• Some have love – hate relationship with KCR
• Many people argue in favour of KCR’s development
• Beneficiaries are confident of KCR’s win

Do irrigation and industrial projects have both positive and negative effect?  Such phenomenon has been witnessed in Gajwel assembly segmwnt being represented by Telangana Chief Minister Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhara Rao (KCR). One can not only get good feel but also praise CM KCR after noticing the development in mandal headquarters of Gajwel, Markuk, Mulugu, Thoofran, Jagadevpur and Vargal where good wide roads, greenery and beautiful office buildings are seen.

B Krishnarjuna Rao, IITian, who is running an engineering tool manufacturing  unit in Rangareddy district is native and voter of Gajwel, analysed the situation in Gajwel like a social analyst by touching all shades. When Prime Post asked about the massive development of Gajwel, “Nobody contradicts your question. There are beautiful Mahathi Auditorium, government office compex, 100 to 200 feet roads, good greenery, setting up Gajwel-Prajnapur Development Authority, industrial complexes,  Kondapochamma sagar and Mallannasagar projects apart from being an education hub and other projects”.

After some pause, Rao posed volley of questions to the Prime Post reporter. Do you (Prime Post reporter) find the complications and tears of families whose lands have been acquired for these projects? Is there any human touch while acquiring the lands? Do you find any Gajwel youth getting jobs in the local industries? Do you notice the frustration of people when their local MLA does not give access to them?

When the Prime Post tried to ask further queries, Rao said the reporter should  interact with the people here. Finally, he said that he had much fascination for KCR, who has an opportunity to rule Telangana for twenty consecutive years with grace and humanity and shape the state as the best one in the country. “My pain is that he (KCR) may lose that chance due to lack of democratic spirit  in his heart”, he said.

Interestingly, the people of Gajwel had not shown much interest in the allegations of state-level corruption against  BRS leaders and CM’s family members. One or two persons referred to the rampant corruption in government offices in Gajwel.

P Sathish, a youth whose family lost land for Mallannasagar Project and settled in the villages near Gajwel has been touring with the BJP candidate and former minister Etela Rajender along with his campaign team. He said that the farmers of Mallannasagar Project whose lands were acquired were not only ditched but also ill-treated inhumanly. He said that our next generation would also be hit by the government’s indifferent attitude.

Many of the other farmers are scared that their lands also would be acquired for the other projects in Gajwel in future too. The prices of lands in the segment touched Rs 1 crore per acre at some places and the farmers under these projects were paid a pittance of Rs 10 to Rs 12 lakh. About 30 villages and 30,000 people were fully and partially disappeared with various projects in Gajwel. Though Mallannasagar was in the limits of Gajwel, the people in Gajwel segment have been rehabilitated.

Kondapochamma Sagar at Muruk mandal

When asked about the farmers’ agony, K Ramakrishna, former village revenue assistant, said, “The government had not dealt with the land acquisition issue with heart. The officials followed the rule book and lacked the human touch. With this, the farmers felt that the government had shown dictatorial attitude in their case. They did not try to convince the farmers trying for mutual consent by increasing the land price and providing other facilities to them”. The scale of resentment among farmers who lost lands for Mallannasagar, Kondapochammasagar, industrial projects, government offices, education hub and others is very high. Each member of such farmer family has been trying to convince other voters to vote against KCR by narrating how they were cheated by the government.

M Sankar Reddy, resident of Vargal, said, “The government should minimise the land acquisition for the projects. The engineers designed Kondapochamma project as 2 TMC and it was increased to 21 TMC. Later, it was fixed 15 TMC and nearly 6000 acres were acquired. The land acquisition became a major election issue along with others in Gajwel”

Surprisingly, there was no sand mafia of ruling party leaders, but red soil issue occupied the sand place. BRS second rung leaders involved in digging red soil in the forest lands and government lands. Majority voters have chosen Etela Rajender to fight against KCR than the Congress candidate Narsa Reddy. Though the Minister for Finance T Harish Rao is acting as incharge to Gajwel, the malpractices being done by BRS leaders in the segment are being ignored by him.

There are many people to argue the positive side of the development done by KCR. T Narasing Rao, a farmer in Muruk, said, “All the allegations made by the people against KCR are wrong. They are blind-eyed unable to see the development that had taken place in Gajwel. Have they not found escalation of land prices from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 1 crore per acre? Didn’t they notice the thousands of Bihar workers working in the Industrial hubs. The house owners are getting good rents to their portion because of Bihar labour force. Farmers are getting water to their fields and getting Rythu Bandhu and remunerative prices for the farm produce. Are these reasons not good enough  to vote for KCR ?”

Interestingly, two auto-drivers Lingaiah and Anjanna, who are government scheme beneficiaries, said, “KCR will win in Gajwel. There are hundreds of beneficiaries of KCR’s schemes. CM will win at least by small margin of voters here”. (eom)