It appears Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is hell bent on acquiring more land for the capital city of Amaravati and is virtually coercing the farmers to surrender their land for the expansion of the capital.
Naidu called for a meeting of Amaravati farmers at the secretariat on Thursday night on the pretext of discussing their problems and finding a solution to them, in the wake of reports that the farmers are gearing up for a fresh agitation to get their long-pending issues resolved.
However, sources, said the meeting turned out to be a one-sided affair with Naidu doing all the talk and asking the farmers to surrender more land for the expansion of the Amaravati capital region,
He made it clear that a second phase of land pooling for Amaravati is unavoidable if the capital is to be developed into a world-class city.
He stated that the government currently lacks adequate land to accommodate investors and undertake major infrastructure projects such as a Sports City, airport, and railway station, all of which require significant space.
The chief minister warned that without cooperation for the second phase of land pooling, Amaravati would remain merely a municipality rather than transform into a global urban hub.
Sources said Naidu pulled up the farmers for talking about their problems before the media and airing their views on social media platforms.
He told them that it would only complicate the matters and lead to internal differences among themselves.
Naidu highlighted the lack of unity among the various Joint Action Committees (JACs) formed by the farmers, urging them to come together under one umbrella and constitute an Amaravati Development Committee.
He recalled his earlier vision for Amaravati and his experience in developing Hyderabad into a global city, noting how land prices there had increased dramatically—from roughly one lakh rupees per acre to as much as Rs 170 crore today.
“Do you want similar growth or not?” he asked farmers, reminding them of the trust they had placed in him when they pooled 33,000 acres during the first phase.
Some farmers stated that they had no objection to the second phase of pooling as long as the original capital plan was followed.
Others pointed out that nearly 2,000 farmers across 29 villages had not given land during the original pooling exercise and suggested that the government acquire those holdings first before initiating the next phase.
Farmers also raised concerns regarding the Floor Space Index (FSI) fixed at 2.8 for their allotted residential plots, arguing that developers were uninterested due to low viability.
They requested an increase to 3.5 FSI, which the chief minister said the government would examine.
