Strongly condemning lathicharge on farmers of Kistapur, Leader of Opposition in Telangana State Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Sunday warned the TRS Government of mass agitation if it forcibly acquires land from farmers in the name of irrigation projects.
Shabbir Ali alleged that the State Government was using coercive methods to collect consent letters from farmers to acquire land for Mallanna Sagar reservoir in Medak district.
He said that the State Government was not willing to pay adequate compensation to the farmers as prescribed by the Land Acquisition Act 2013.
He alleged that the TRS Government has re-designed the Mallanna Sagar reservoir by increasing its capacity from 1.5 TMC to 50 TMC without calculating the economical impact in terms of payment of compensation. Now it wants farmers to settle for peanuts while denying them the deserved and promised benefits under the Compensation Act.
Shabbir Ali said that the land which state government proposes to acquire was fertile land which irrigate two crops every year.
He said that the State Government has replaced the GO. MS. No. 214 with GO. MS. 123 only to deny the farmers adequate compensation.
He said it was wrong on the part of State Government to suppress the voice of farmers by using police and lathicharge.
He demanded that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao convene a review meeting to resolve the issue and come up with clarity on rehabilitation and compensation packages.
