VIJAYAWADA: State govt is planning to withdraw the land acquisition notification issued to acquire about 4,300 acres in Amaravati area in 2016. The then TDP govt wanted to acquire land from farmers, who did not give up their land as part of Land Pooling Scheme (LPS).
YSRCP had promised to withdraw the notification before the last elections. But it could not move ahead with the promise in view of litigations.
Sources said that govt recently directed CRDA and Guntur district administrations to ready the roadmap to withdraw the notification. Sources said that Guntur district collector M Venugopala Reddy held several review meetings on the issue and asked the officials from CRDA to provide details. Sources said that the officials involved in the process are working overtime to finish the task before the election notification is issued.
However, the decision is likely to spark another controversy ahead of the elections as the capital city area farmers are opposing the move as it would serve as a jolt to Amaravati master plan.
AP high court recently suspended a notification issued by the CRDA to cancel the plots allocated to farmers in Amaravati. CRDA wanted to relocate some of the plots allocated to farmers and suspended the previous allocation. The court struck down the decision. Withdrawal of the notification would be a boon to farmers, who do not wish to be part of the LPS.
Although state govt issued the notification in 2016 to acquire 4,300 acres, it could acquire only 180 acres till 2019. Majority of farmers, who opposed land acquisition, approached courts and got stay orders. Local legislator Alla Ramakrishna Reddy had promised to ensure that the land acquisition notification would be suspended. He was disappointed when govt did not accept his repeated requests on the issue for so long.
