Caught between two States, villagers resist SIR

Metro India News | Hyderabad :

Residents of several villages along the Telangana-Maharashtra border in Kumaram Bheem Asifabad district have refused to cooperate with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, demanding that the long-pending inter-state border dispute be resolved before the exercise continues.

The SIR process has encountered major hurdles in Kerameri mandal, where Booth Level Officers (BLOs) say residents of several border villages are refusing to accept or submit enumeration forms. Officials have been trying to convince villagers to participate in the revision process, but their efforts have largely remained unsuccessful.

The issue centres around 12 disputed and unsurveyed villages located along the Telangana-Maharashtra border. These include Parandholi, Mukadanguda, Maharajguda, Kota, Antaapur, Indranagar, Aesapur, Narayanaguda, Bholapatar, Gauri, Lendiguda and Padmavathi. According to officials, around 3,456 voters live in these villages.

For decades, residents of these villages have been exercising their voting rights in both Telangana and Maharashtra while also availing welfare benefits from both states. However, under the SIR process, voters are required to retain their names in the electoral roll of only one state. This has triggered strong opposition among villagers, who fear losing access to welfare schemes available in one of the two states.

While residents of Antaapur and Bholapatar panchayats have accepted the enumeration forms, voters in Parandholi, Mukadanguda, Kota, Lendiguda, Shankarloddi, Parandholi Thanda and Maharajguda have rejected them. BLOs and their supervisors have repeatedly appealed to residents to cooperate, but the requests have gone unheeded.

Villagers have demanded that the district collectors of Kumaram Bheem Asifabad and Chandrapur districts jointly intervene and settle the long-pending border dispute before the SIR exercise proceeds.

Former Parandholi sarpanch Kamble Laxman said residents have been living in Telangana since 2014 and have been receiving benefits from the state's Revenue Department. However, they are now being asked to enrol in Maharashtra's electoral rolls. He said the villages should first be surveyed, land titles should be issued and the administrative status of the 12 villages should be finalised before residents are asked to choose a single state for voting.

The agitation is also linked to long-standing land and welfare issues. Non-tribal farmers alleged that pahani records issued before 2014 were cancelled, preventing them from receiving agricultural loans, Rythu Bandhu assistance and crop insurance benefits. They demanded that officials from both Telangana and Maharashtra resolve these issues before expecting cooperation in the SIR process.

Scheduled Caste communities, which constitute nearly 75 per cent of the population in these villages, also expressed dissatisfaction, alleging that the Forest Department has ignored their demands for years. Residents said they had taken agricultural loans in 2014 but have not received land titles for more than 12 years.

Parandholi sarpanch Ratore Pushpalatha said the villagers had collectively decided to reject the SIR forms until the district collectors of both states addressed their concerns. Officials, meanwhile, continue efforts to create awareness among residents and persuade them to participate in the electoral revision process.