It appears there is no end to the greed of the ruling Telugu Desam Party-led coalition government in Andhra Pradesh for land in Amaravati capital region, which is projected to be expanding further at the cost of local farmers.
A couple of months ago, there were reports that the Chandrababu Naidu government is contemplating acquiring around 30,000 acres of land in addition to 34,000 acres of land already acquired by the AP Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA) for the capital city under land pooling scheme. This is in addition to 18,000 acres of government land.
State municipal administration and urban development minister P Narayana officially said it would require another 30,000 acres for the capital, as there is a proposal for establishing an international airport, ORR and other infrastructure projects.
But on Monday, the APCRDA approved acquisition of around 40,000 to 45,000 acres of land for the second phase of the Amaravati capital region project. So, the total land for the capital city would be touching one lakh acres, which makes Amaravati the biggest-ever capital city in the country.
According to Narayana, the government plans to adopt the same land pooling policy used in the first phase, which covered 217 sq. km.
He said of the additional land proposed to be acquired, 5,000 acres will be used for a new airport, 2,500 acres for smart industries and 2,500 acres for a sports city.
He said before finalizing whether to acquire land through land pooling or land acquisition, the government is conducting a public opinion survey under the guidance of local MLAs.
In the Pedakurapadu constituency, 26,000 acres have already been offered voluntarily by farmers. In Tadikonda constituency, across three villages, 12,000 acres have been offered. “Thus, a total of 38,000 acres have already been pledged voluntarily,” he said.
The government promises to hand over developed plots to the contributing farmers within three years.
"From the land pooled, only 25% remains with CRDA after allocating plots to farmers,” he said.
Defending the additional land acquisition, Narayana said to acquire 10,000 acres needed for the airport, industries, and sports city, total of 40,000 acres must be pooled. Another 3,000–5,000 acres are required for infrastructure development, bringing the total to 45,000 acres.
“If we go through direct land acquisition, only 10,000 acres would be needed, but farmers would face losses. Hence, we prefer land pooling. Public opinion surveys are ongoing in villages and a clear decision will emerge in 15 days," he added.
