Land Pooling in CRDA wrapped

The land pooling exercise, the efforts towards voluntary land acquisition efforts of AP government for building the new capital of Andhra Pradesh in Guntur District has wrapped.

According to vice chairman of CRDA and Minister P.Narayana, the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) so far collected 26, 589 acres by Saturday midnight which was rested with the authority to pool 37,000 acres from farmers of 29 villages in 3 mandals (blocks) of Guntur district.

With the deadline approaching fast, CRDA and revenue officials stayed back in these villages to speed up the process. For the duties of assembling the acceptance letters from farmers, additional 100 staff members have been entrusted.

The key TDP minister in charge of the CRDA affairs said that the farmers came forward with clear titles but the 1384 acres of land from the land pooling are under illegal layouts and only 831 acres in proper layouts. As a final resort to overcome the hindrances for pooling of land, the AP government might go for Land acquisition.

The last day for land pooling on Saturday had consent letters received till last night in CRDA at Vijayawada and Guntur. During the land pooling process, to ensure that no incidents take place additional police forces are deployed in key villages. In an effort to convince the farmers to offer their lands, State ministers including P Narayana visited Bethapudi, Mangalagiri and Nidamarru villages.

In the interim, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, YSR Congress Party President announced that from March 3, he will tour the capital region in Guntur district to get a firsthand knowledge of the plight of farmers who are not ready to give away their lands; also, to join voice to their feelings in the State Assembly in the ensuing budget session.

Ambati Rambabu, a party spokesperson on Saturday said that the Leader of Opposition will tour seven villages in Mangalagiri assembly constituency, six in Tadikonda that includes Thulluru, the place where farmers are being pressurized to give away their multi-crop-lands as the State has been run on commercial lines like a realtor. He said that such coercion against farmers is not in the democratic spirit but implies dictatorship.

Creating a panic situation scaring the farmers to part away with their land, the proposed capital area depicts a war zone with TDP MLAs, Ministers and horde of officials hoarding the entire region.