Ahead of polls, Andhra withdraws Amaravati land acquisition notice
The notifications withdrawing the land acquisition in a total of 625 acres were issued by Guntur district collector M Venugopal Reddy on February 28
The Andhra Pradesh government has withdrawn the land acquisition notification for more than 600 acres in at least 21 villages in Amaravati for the construction of the capital city, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government issued a series of gazette notifications days before the announcement of schedule for the assembly elections in the state as well as the Lok Sabha polls.
The notifications withdrawing the land acquisition in a total of 625 acres were issued by Guntur district collector M Venugopal Reddy on February 28, but came to the fore earlier this week, the people said.
The collector notified that the proceedings for land acquisition in these villages under Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act (RFCTLARR), 2013, for the construction of capital city are being withdrawn.
“The withdrawal notification was issued after hectic deliberations between the collector and officials of the AP Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) after obtaining legal opinion,” a senior official of the APCRDA, privy to the development, said.
Interestingly, the land acquisition of only 625 acres was withdrawn as against more than 1,317 acres of land proposed to be acquired through the notification by the APCRDA during the previous TDP government.
For example out of 628.90 acres of land to be acquired in Penumaka village, the withdrawal notification was issued only with regard to 458.46 acres, belonging to 818 farmers.
Similarly, in Velagapudi village, where the state secretariat complex and state assembly buildings are located, land acquisition notice was issued for 111.40 acres, but withdrawal of land acquisition is being done only in 48.83 acres. In Venkatapalem village, out of 66.12 acres of land proposed to be acquired, the Guntur collector ordered withdrawal of land acquisition only for 39.83 acres.
The withdrawal of land acquisition in these villages would mean the farmers from whom the land was proposed to be acquired would get back their land parcels, while others surrounding these land parcels would be part of the capital city.
“This withdrawal of acquisition of land parcels in bits and pieces will result in the disturbance of entire Amaravati capital city masterplan. You cannot expect pieces of agricultural land in the heart of a capital city,” said K Anil Kumar, a farmer belonging to Venkatapalem village.
Why land acquisition?
The previous TDP government led by N Chandrababu Naidu proposed to develop the capital city at Amaravati in about 53,000 acres of land, including the government land and forest land. In 2015, the APCRDA, created to take up the capital city construction, sought to acquire over 34,000 acres of land from 28,000-odd farmers from 29 villages through land pooling scheme (LPS).
As per the agreement signed with APCRDA, the farmers, who had given away their fertile land to the government for the capital city, were allotted 250-400 square yards of commercial plot, depending on the location, besides 1,000 square yards of residential plots in the capital region, for every acre of land they surrendered to the APCRDA.
“While majority of the farmers had given away their lands to the APCRDA under LPS, a few farmers in each village refused to surrender their pieces of land. In bigger villages like Penumaka and Undavalli, majority of the farmers refused to part with their land,” Kumar said.
Since the APCRDA has prepared the master plan for the entire capital city of Amaravati, the government was forced to issue a land acquisition notification in 2015, as per the RFCTLARR, 2013, since it cannot leave parcels of agriculture land amidst the capital city.
The farmers had gone to the high court and got the land acquisition stalled. “Even as the case is pending, the farmers who surrendered their lands for the capital city were allotted commercial and residential plots through draw of lottery. Some of them got the plots allotted in the land parcels of those farmers who did not surrender their lands, as part of the master plan,” Kumar said.
In the last eight years, some of the farmers sold away the allotted plots for their financial needs. Meanwhile, the Jagan Mohan Reddy government formed in May 2019, dumped the Amaravati capital city project and proposed three capitals for the state, with Visakhapatnam as the executive capital.
As a result, the Amaravati master plan was given a go-by. Last year, the government sought to cancel the plots allotted to farmers in the lands meant for land acquisition and relocate them to other places. The farmers moved the court challenging the decision and in February this year, the high court struck down the government’s decision to cancel the original plot allocation and reallocate new plots to the farmers.
“Now, the government has chosen to withdraw the land acquisition process in case of some land parcels. This will affect the interests of farmers who were allotted plots in these land parcels. It clearly shows the government is hell bent on tampering with the master plan just ahead of the assembly elections,” G Lakshmi of Thullur village said.
APCRDA commissioner Vivek Yadav could not be reached for reaction.
