"If you are to suffer, you should suffer in the interest of the country." - Jawaharlal Nehru, speaking to villagers to be displaced by the Hirakud Dam, 1948.
It was a day of revelations. Our journey started from Sompeta, where villagers had been protesting for the last two years against the proposed power plant by the Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC), and the day ended at Vadditantra where two people were killed in the recent police firing.
When those who suffer for the interest of the nation, arise and find the strength to fight for land and water, they have to face the gun; that is what Sompeta and Vadditantra tells us. Scores of women have experiences to tell about the hard times they had been through and are still undergoing.
Sompeta
The tale of Sompeta is about the people’s uprising, especially women. It was women who initiated the movement. The local activists Dr. M. Krishna Murthy, B. Dhilli Rao and Sundara Rao played the part of organising them.Women who worked with the self help groups were informed about the power project and had a greater role in mobilising people. Forming small groups, they reached out to every household explaining the gravity of the issue. And, for a practical experience they visited NTPC, Simhadri.
“The role of women fisher folk, more or less resembled public relations work. They utilised their time of business for making others aware of the movement,” said a researcher.
Whoever we met at Pallasapuram and Lakkavaram said the same, ”Let us live. We don’t want development that pollutes our water and land.”
“Do you think we would have benefited by giving up our land? It’s a big no. Who wants to enjoy the electricity, when we will be begging in the streets of big cities like yours? Are we villagers only meant to suffer?” said a woman who preferred to maintain her anonymity.
For the local women the beela and tampara (the wetlands) are a source of tunga and ponnanga grasses, using which they make mats and baskets, a secondary source of income for many. The proposed project had not only environmental impacts, but also had economic and social fallouts.
In the police firing of July 14, 2010, the calm broke into violence and many of the women involved in the movement suffered in the hands of the police. Bandalla Seshamma, an elderly woman who was heavily injured was beaten up by the police inside the ambulance on the way to hospital.
However at Sompeta, villagers managed to get the environmental clearance, previous awarded to NCC to be scrapped by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Vadditantra
At Vadditantra we were received by the sight of burned houses, crying children, old women crying names of their beloveds in detention. It was all because the fishing community here, who are going to get affected by the Bhavanapadu Thermal Power Plant, under construction, protested against it. The women started a hunger strike against the construction of power plant by the East Coast Energy Pvt. Ltd way back in 2008. The construction has already destroyed the extremely fragile ecology, thus affecting the livelihood of the community.
Ananta Sayisri,one of the women we came across lost her house in the police firing on Feb 25,2010. Her eldest son Harikrishna and her husband Duvvada Sreeni were arrested during the protest, and her younger son has been missing since. Gangamma, her daughter -in -law and two kids were the only one left.
“They [police] threw bombs and we ran in panic when smoke engulfed our houses. When we came back, I learnt we lost what we earned in our lifetime [crying pointing towards the burnt house]. Tell us what to do? Where will we sleep?” asked Ananta in despair.
“Goons of the company with the support of police broke the doors of our home and asked me to go with them. He came shamelessly to me and said, since your husband is in jail, I’m ready to take you as my wife. When I resisted they abused me,” cried Gangamma.
Every household has a story to tell- a tale of losing a beloved, not to lose the land where they have born. Children stared at us-the deserted looks in those eyes was disturbing- silence which could speak. Women who gathered at the community temple asked us what we would do when we got back to Hyderabad. The question left me baffled and dumbstruck.
“Goons [hired by the firm] and the police raided the village and wrecked it. they paid no heed to our voices.150 people were taken away in trucks brutally, including my husband. It has been nine days since he was taken. They took an old woman on their shoulders, without any mercy. The police and goons are responsible for our wrecked lives. We are ready to sacrifice our lives, but we will not have the power plant. The teachers of the local school has been beaten up, hence, our children are unable to go to school now. We are ready to die, but it’s a big no to the plant,” said Nagulu Saitamma with a determination on her face.
Sompeta was a decision been made by the people, not just for the people, but also for their farmlands, and to maintain the wealth of nature for the generations to come. On the other hand, Vadditantra, resembled a war zone - a war between stones and bullets - a continuum to Sompeta.
An end to this construction, the people here expect nothing else from the government.. There was no choice for these women except to fight, because they do not want to beg at the streets of the big cities. It was a call to live and die in dignity-right to live, to protect land and water.
