Nandigram-like unease brews in Andhra
Pradesh.
After Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal, it is the turn of
Muthrajpalli, Lingarajpet and Sangapur in Andhra Pradesh. The shock for
the villagers in Medak district came insulated in the English language.
The notices served by the tehsildar's office left them clueless, so
they got them translated into Telugu, and were soon hopping mad-the
government was planning to acquire 650 acres of their land for setting
up a 726-acre special economic zone.
The farmers are furious that the government is "forcibly" acquiring
their land for a chemical industrial park. Fearing that the move would
deprive them of their identities and livelihood, some landowners have
complained to the Human Rights Commission.
Supporting them, political parties warned the Congress government that
the acquisition would lead to a Nandigram-like outburst. A BJP
delegation, led by the party's state president Bandaru Dattatreya, had
petitioned the State Human Rights Commission chairman Justice B.
Subhashan Reddy against the land acquisition. He alleged that the
government wanted to acquire land cheap and sell it to entrepreneurs at
high rates-a deal that would leave middlemen richer overnight.
The farmers of Lingarajpet are wedded to their land for historical and
sentimental reasons. Years ago, the Nizam of Hyderabad distributed land
among the villagers, who came into possession of more acres when the
Land Ceiling Act came into force in the 1970s. Recently, they got more
when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave away pattas under the Indira
Prabhas scheme. Today, the village has 120 acres of arable land, which
is the source of livelihood for 70 families.
Kothapeta Lakshmiah, a nonagenarian who owns land that has been handed
down three generations, is angry with the government. "My grandfather
farmed this land. We have worked hard on it. Now its yield is enough
for us to survive. How can the government take it away?" he asks.
The government has offered around Rs 1 lakh per acre, a house and job
for a family member in the proposed SEZ as compensation for land
acquisition. The current rate in the market is Rs 10-15 lakh per acre.
Apparently, no compensation can satisfy the villagers, who are so
attached to their land that they just do not want to give it up. "We
have lived with nature here for years, and have tilled our land for
generations. Do you think we will allow the government to walk all over
our efforts so easily?" fumes Lakshmiah.
Lakshmiah's son Kothapeta Bhikshapathi owns three acres. "Why live when
they forcibly take away our land? No one in the village is educated,
and a few have studied till Class 7. Even if they give job to one
family member each, it will not be enough to feed our big families," he
says.
The villagers in Lingarajpet are not aggressive by nature. But now they
are gearing up for porattam, or struggle. "Let them go over my dead
body to possess my piece of land," says Lakshmamma, whose husband owns
land in the village.
The residents of Muthrajpalli and Sangapur villages are relatively new
settlers, who own patta land elsewhere. So they are more willing to
part with their land, but they would not settle for anything less than
Rs 5 lakh per acre as compensation.
The protests have forced the authorities to sit up and take notice.
Medak joint collector Ramshankar Nayak said that the notices sent to
farmers would be recalled. He said that while the government reserved
the right to acquire the land in future, no farmer would be forced to
forgo land without compensation.
The SHRC has asked the Medak collector to desist from taking steps that
would "dispossess" farmers of their land, until it disposed of the
BJP's petition. Also, the commission chairman directed the collector to
furnish a report on land acquisitions in the villages.
The Telangana Rashtra Samiti, which is agitating against the
government's move, suggested that the administration could acquire land
in the nearby Vargal mandal for the SEZ.
The government said the opposition parties were trying to gain
political mileage from the issue. Said Minister for Major Industries J.
Geeta Reddy, who represents the Medak Assembly constituency: "We have
acquired the land with proper consent through gram sabhas, and have
paid the farmers." She said owners of just 41 acres in Muthrajpalli had
filed complaints with the SHRC.
Reddy termed the opposition's concerns as baseless, and said that the
government was ready to furnish the relevant reports before the
commission. "Over 60 per cent of the land acquired for the SEZ is dry
and unused. The government has offered rehabilitation and resettlement
packages to the displaced persons, with housing, cattle, feed
compensation of 730 days of wages and training to one member from each
family. There is no sign of a Nandigram-like situation," Reddy added.
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