In the pancha gramalu or quintet of villages in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam district, residents, women and men, many retired, go about their daily lives, sending grandchildren off to school, doing the daily chores and even celebrating festivals. But, they say, there’s a shadow hanging over them, with justice being denied to them for 23 years.
On August 19, 2000, Government Order no. 578—they are particular about the number because many have been under Central and State government employment—upturned their lives. Residents from Adavivaram, Venkatapuram, Vepagunta, Purushothapuram, and Cheemalapalli villages could no longer buy, sell, transfer, modify, or repair immovable assets, homes, small businesses, and the land is either left empty or used for cultivation. This impacted about 25,000 families residing in the villages, a green area surrounded by low hills, within 17 Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) revenue wards.
The G.O. declared that the ‘true’ owner of a 9,069-acre area was the Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Simhachalam. Most of the land bought for the construction of houses or small businesses, like lodges and shops, was from other individuals in the 80s and 90s.
