It’s final–AP capital is in Guntur-Mangalgiri area

• 30,000 acres from 17 villages to be acquired
• 1000 sq yards, Rs.25,000 for 10 years per acre for each farmer
• Land pooling to be completed in 3 months

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh Government has zeroed in on the exact location of the state capital announcing that it would come up in the Guntur-Mangalgiri area where 30,000 acres of land would be taken from 20,000 farmers spread over 17 villages. A formal decision to this effect was taken in the ministerial sub-committee on land acquisition for capital which met at the secretariat here on Thursday. Announcing this at a press conference after the meeting, Minister for Agriculture P Pulla Rao, who hails from Guntur, said initially 30,000 acres would be taken from the farmers in 17 villages under land pooling system in Guntur district in the first phase where the basic facilities required for the Capital would be built. “The world class capital would be developed on the south side of the Krishna river,’’ the minister said.

The government will make all efforts to convince the farmers to part with their lands explaining to them the benefits they could reap after the completion of the capital construction. Without directly answering whether any coercive method would be used by slapping Land Acquisition Act, the Minister said the farmers would be asked to cooperate with the government since the capital coming close to their door step would be a boon for them. The minister also denied the role of realtors who could have influenced the change in location of capital from Vijayawada surroundings to the Guntur-Magalagiri area.

Each farmer would be given 1000 square yards from the developed land and Rs 25,000 per acre for loss on income through farming with an annual increment of 5 per cent for a period of 10 years.

The minister denied that the annual offer would be less than the income the farmers get from a good harvest an added that around 20,000 farmers would benefit from the land pooling.

He said they had taken the average yield and the market price of various types of crops and only 5 percent of farmers could be earning little more then what the government was offering to them, Pulla Rao said. He said the 17 villages would remain as it is and they would be converted into modern villages with all the infrastructure facilities. The entire process of land pooling would be completed within three months and the concerned officials including the collectors of Krishna and Guntur would begin negotiating with the farmers from November 1 onwards.

Meanwhile the Vijayawada-Gutur-Tenali-Mangalagiri Development Authority would be scrapped soon and Capital Region Development Authirity would take over the administrative functions.