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Capital land pooling: Disadvantage farmers?

The AP government's proposal to give just 1,000 sq yard per acre of developed land to farmers under the land pooling system for building capital city has come in for sharp criticism.

The government's plan to build the new capital city on the banks of the river in Guntur district, has created ripples among the farmers in villages abutting the right bank of the river Krishna.

The farmers are angry with the government for “ignoring“ all their demands before finalizing the compensation package. While the farmers refused to accept even 40 per cent share in the developed land, the cabinet sub-committee gave a shocker by deciding to give them just 20 per cent of the land to be acquired from them. The farmers have, in fact, demanded a higher share and said they are ready to accept the government's proposal if they are guaranteed 60 per cent share in the developed land.

According to government proposal, about 50 per cent of the land (2,400 sq yards per acre) would be set aside for creation of community spaces, roads, drains and convention centres. Out of the remaining 2,400 sq yards, farmers will get 1,000 sq yards while government will keep 1,400 sq yards.

Sources said the government is planning to hand over the construction of the capital city to international developers through bidding process. The successful bidder will be given land in return for the development of city .Sources said the government could share the land in its pool (1,400 sq yard per acre) on 50:50 basis with the developer. This will enable the developer to garner nearly 4,200 acres of the 8,400 acres of government share in the total land proposed to be pooled (30,000 acres) for the capital.

“Although, it appears to be a smart move by the government, it would virtually make the farmers suffer at the end as they could not compete with the realtors in selling their share of the land,“ observed CPM leader Y Radhakrishna. He criticised the land pooling process as it had no constitutional safeguards.

“The government is deliberately going in for land pooling to avoid the troubles that could arise from land acquisition Act, which prescribes the consent of 80 per cent of owners for acquisition,“ he said.

“Realtors are known for adopting aggressive marketing strategies to sell their plots and they would not hesitate to scuttle our plans to dispose of our plots until they get their due. In case, the developer is allowed to go for skyscrapers in his portion of land, we might have to wait for decades to sell our share of land,“ said K Narsaiah, a farmer of Nekkallu village.

Former agriculture minister Vadde Sobhanadreswara Rao found fault with the government for trying to exert pressure on farmers to accept land pooling proposal. The government should not spoil crops in 30,000 acres just for the sake of 4,000 acres needed for the capital city . Former MP Yalamanchili Sivaji said the government should begin construction of capital in about 10,000 acres of land available between Vijayawada and Guntur without touching the precious agriculture lands.

Even though Andhra Pradesh government is bracing up to pool massive 30,000 acres of land for building of the capital, sources said administrative capital with assembly, secretariat and other government buildings will come up only on about 4,000 to 5,000 acres.

“Government cannot use entire 30,000 acres. We will be left with hardly 6,000 acres in Tullur and Mangalagiri mandals. There is no real estate angle in this,“ municipal administration minister P Narayana told media.

The cabinet sub-committee will visit the area earmarked for the capital on Saturday to convince farmers. Building activities will be put on hold there once the pooling process starts. According to sources joint collector level officers will be appointed for each sector consisting of 6,000 acres for pooling to be completed in three months.

Source: TimesOfIndia

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