Thullur farmers busy holding parleys

Guntur: Thullur mandal, the heart of capital city region is abuzz with euphoria relating to land pooling activity with the visit of ministers, people's representatives and government officials. Scattered groups of farmers are seen holding parleys at tea shops and roadside eateries.

The topic of discussion for farmers is land pooling, its intricacies, benefits and so on. While some farmers are busy visiting offices of Tahsildars, TDP offices and finalising deals with the government, some are adopting a wait and watch approach and analysing things with commercial perspective.

A minimum of 10 officials are visiting each village and meeting the reluctant farmers and at the same time processing applications of consenting farmers. Land pooling notifications are being released.

There are 18 villages in Thullur mandal. So far farmers from 8 villages have come forward to give their lands and also gave consent letters to the Tahsildars concerned. As many as 294 farmers gave consent letters for an extent of 10,205.4 acres. Minister for Municipal Administration P Narayana is visiting villages in the mandal everyday covering several villages to personally preside over land pooling operations and to give a sense of confidence to the farmers dispelling their doubts and apprehensions.

District Collector Kantilal Dande has advised the Tahsildars to accept whatever documents the farmers give as a token of their consent and not insist on land pattadar passbooks.

Officials are also taking details of lands pledged by farmers to the banks and the financial implications for redeeming them from banks. Officials are also getting ready to issue land pooling notifications even in Tadepalli and Mangalagiri mandals.