Pyla Kondamma is a Dalit farmer and former head of the village council in Tarluvada, a village in Visakhapatnam district, Andhra Pradesh. She owns approximately two acres of land that was allocated to her family in the 1970s through a government program intended to provide land to landless Dalit households. In 2025–2026, her land became central to a major land acquisition conflict when Google selected three villages near Visakhapatnam for its largest data center project outside the United States, requiring 480 acres total—with 200 acres drawn from Dalit-owned land in Tarluvada and surrounding areas.
Kondamma has emerged as a prominent voice resisting this acquisition, explicitly stating: "We are not afraid — even if they kill us, we will not give it away." She has also highlighted the discriminatory targeting of Dalit land, noting: "They are not touching land owned by dominant castes. Only Dalit land." Her resistance reflects the precarious position of Dalit land ownership in the region—in Visakhapatnam district, approximately 68% of Dalit households own no land, making the few acres allocated to families like Kondamma's potentially their only means of economic security and subsistence.
Sources
- 1.How Data Centres Are Displacing Dalit Communities From Their Land — The WireThe Wire: Comprehensive reporting on Dalit land displacement in Visakhapatnam for Google data center project
- 2.As Data Centers Arrive, India's Poorest Face Displacement, Health Risks — Dirty Data (Environmental Reporting Collective)Environmental Reporting Collective: Investigation of 200-acre land acquisition targeting Dalit families in Tarluvada
- 3.The Thirst of Intelligence — MediumMedium essay by Sajal Mukherjee on data center impacts on Dalit communities in Visakhapatnam