Environmentalist seeks white paper on capital land

Vijayawada: Environmentalist P Lakshminarayana, who filed a petition before National Green Tribunal against acquisition of fertile land for construction of capital Amaravati, demanded that the State government release a white paper on the land acquisition and plans for construction of the capital in CRDA region.

“The government has already acquired 30,000 acres land by various means, including land pooling, and now again asking the Centre to de-notify forest lands to the extent of 35,000 acres in Krishna and Guntur districts. The government needs to clarify how the lands will be used,” he said while addressing a press conference here on Tuesday.

Srimannarayana said first it was announced that Singapore would help in construction of the new capital and later the names of China and Japan came up. “Why the government is not giving clarity on construction of the capital? What is the core area? How much land will be used for construction of capital and how much will be allotted to foreign companies? People should know all these details,” he said.

Alleging that the government was acquiring lands for real estate business, he said that the land in the area was not fit for construction of skyscrapers as the soil is loose. He also said the CRDA region is prone to floods caused by Kodaveeti Vaagu in every three or four years. He alleged that GO 109, issued by the government would usurp the powers of local bodies.