Vijayawada: Even as the state government is said to be contemplating making some changes in the package pertaining to the land pooling proposal in the capital region to pacify farmers, not much of a breakthrough is expected.
Infuriated farmers of Tullur mandal are now insisting that the Andhra Pradesh government must reveal the exact blueprint for the new capital city before taking over the land from them.
Monday began with the news that the government plans some amendments to the package to appease the farmers.
However, undeterred by this, the Mandadam, Uddhandarayunipalem, Lingayapalem and Rayapudi village panchayats passed resolutions rejecting the government’s land pooling formula.
Farmers of Nidamarru, Kuragallu and Nirukonda expressed solidarity with the above said villages and soon these panchayats are expected to follow suit, said M. Seshagiri Rao of Rayapudi.
Notwithstanding the select information being given out by the cabinet sub-committee members, farmers from the villages identified for land pooling strongly suspect that the government is hungry for land only to help realtors and multinational companies.
“The symbol of the world’s largest democracy, the Indian Parliament building, is constructed on only six acres in the total 9.8 acres it occupies. The US president’s official residence White House too is spread over only 18 acres, including the fencing,” questioned Mallela Harindranath Chowdary, former MPP of Tullur.
Another resident of Rayapudi village, M Samrajyam, asked: “We came to know that all government buildings, including the Secretariat, Assembly, MLA quarters and state level offices in Hyderabad, were constructed on just 250 acres of land. Why does the AP government need 30,000 acres here?”
“It is mind boggling that the government wants 30,000 acres, which is equal to 121 sq km. This is more than the existing Vijayawada and Guntur cities together. Is the capital for the people or for parks and resorts?” engineering student from Tullur Krishna Chaitanya asked, adding that no other capital had been constructed in such a huge area, and that too by dismantling high-yielding green fields.
