An ambitious plan to develop Andhra Pradesh’s capital Amaravati is facing resistance from farmers in Ondavalli and Bhinumaka villages, who are refusing to give up their land to the capital under land pooling and land acquisition schemes.
On Tuesday, farmers from the two villages, along with their counterparts from neighboring Nedamaru, Erupalem and Kuragalu villages, met YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at his camp office in Tadepalli, seeking his support in their fight against what they described as forced land acquisition by the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA).
At the same time, the aggrieved farmers boycotted the gram sabha drive conducted by APCRDA in Penumaka as part of the land acquisition exercise for Amaravati.
“We have held several rounds of discussions with farmers in the past, but they are not willing to give up their lands to Amaravati under the land pooling scheme, unlike their counterparts in other villages who have given up their lands voluntarily,” APCRDA Commissioner V Vijayarama Raju said.
As a result, the state government was forced to initiate the land acquisition process through the recently issued notifications, in full compliance with the prescribed procedures, Raju said.
Ondavalli and Bhinumaka farmers assert that their villages are located along the Chennai-Kolkata National Highway (NH-16), where land values are much higher than other metropolitan area villages.
“Moreover, the lands in these villages are highly fertile and produce three crops a year. How can the government deprive us of our livelihood?” said Sridhar Reddy, a farmer from Undavalli village.
He alleged that APCRDA was trying to acquire lands to connect the seed access road in Amaravati with the national highway.
“Part of my small land has already been eroded by the Krishna River. The remaining lands now fall within the proposed seed access road and buffer zone, leaving me with little land for cultivation,” Sridhar Reddy said.
Hundreds of farming families have depended on agriculture for generations, and giving up their limited land holdings will push them into uncertainty and financial distress, said YSRCP Mangalagiri constituency coordinator Donthireddy Vimareddy.
“The government is behaving inhumanely towards farmers who have refused to hand over land under the second phase of land acquisition for the capital project,” he alleged.
Vimareddy claimed that in Penomaka, where the government has begun construction work on a small reservoir, farmland has been randomly dug up to 20 feet deep and turned into “ponds” after recent rains.
He claimed that the authorities ignored neighboring lands owned by farmers who refused to acquire them and accused the government of acting out of resentment.
In his address, Jagan assured the farmers of getting legal support from YSRCP.
He said: “Farmers who have not given their lands to the capital region are being harassed by the coalition government. It is unfair on the part of the government to seize lands from them by force.”
Jagan reiterated that the concept of the Mavigaon (Machilipatnam-Vijayawada-Guntur) Capital Corridor is more viable and already has robust infrastructure, including port, road, rail and air connectivity.
“We have developed Machilipatnam port. There are railway stations in Vijayawada and Guntur, and the corridor is well connected to the national highway network,” he said.
“With no basic infrastructure and with such high costs, capital development in Amaravati will take a long time. The government wants the process to continue only because the flow of commissions will continue simultaneously,” he claimed.
The APCRDA Commissioner said that farmers still have an opportunity to participate in the land pooling scheme, and that even those whose names appeared in the recently issued land acquisition notification can opt for land pooling within the stipulated time frame.
He said that plans are being prepared and implemented to develop infrastructure facilities in villages of Amaravati capital.
“As construction work on the Amaravati development project is progressing rapidly, farmers must cooperate with officials,” he said.
