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Kakinada Special Economic Zone farmers demand return of land in three mandals
Farmer representatives Chinta Suryanarayana Murty, Badireddy Tammanna Dora and Bavisetty Narayana Swamy of KSEZ Farmers Protection Welfare Association (FPWA) quoted that the land was acquired in 2002 by Kakinada Sea Parts Limited (KSPL) for setting up an oil refinery by Oil Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in these lands as per GO number 196/2002.
Uppada-Kothapalli (East Godavari): As many as 5,000 farmers of Kakinada Special Economic Zone (KSEZ) demanded return of acquired lands to the tune of 10,000 acres in Uppada –Kothapalli and Tondangi mandals in East Godavari.In a representation addressed to President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Andhra Pradesh Governor, E S L Narasimhan Rao and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, they demanded restoration of lands as majority of them are small and marginal farmers from SC and BC social sections.
Farmer representatives Chinta Suryanarayana Murty, Badireddy Tammanna Dora and Bavisetty Narayana Swamy of KSEZ Farmers Protection Welfare Association (FPWA) quoted that the land was acquired in 2002 by Kakinada Sea Parts Limited (KSPL) for setting up an oil refinery by Oil Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) in these lands as per GO number 196/2002.
Though ONGC backed out on technical and financial viability grounds, the land acquisition process should have been stopped by restoring the acquired lands to farmers, they said.The leaders alleged that despite ONGC’s backing, the land acquisition process continued through nonfiction 4[1] dated December 2005. In this process the land in the new areas was marked by deviating from the earlier GO number 196.
They also said in their representation that the KSEZ operators warned the farmers to accept Rs 3 lakh compensation per acre otherwise they will be paid Rs 1.50 lakh in later stages.
The leaders mentioned in their representation that the KSEZ has no permission for issuing 4[1] notification either from the Union or from State government. They also quoted that though the farmers did not give any consent their names were deleted.They also mentioned that the lands were sold to GMR by KSEZ. The leaders also quoted that the State High Court as per WP 680 in 2007 clearly stated that the KSEZ is a government concern.
Despite this the GMR obtained loans to the extent of Rs 1,700 crore from banks against all norms. Taking all the details into consideration, the leaders started the restoration works, as cultivation was the only source for the farmers’ livelihood. The leaders of the farmers also said that a copy of the representation was submitted to East Godavari Collector H Arun Kumar.
