VISAKHAPATNAM:The district administration has identified land for the development of world class biodiversity knowledge-cum-theme park at Tangudubilli village in Anandapuram mandal, 48 km from the city.
The Hyderabad-based world class Pragathi Resorts, at the request of chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, has come forward to set up a biodiversity park, resorts, guest houses and a convention centre in Visakhapatnam and asked the government to provide 500 acres of land. The Pragati Resorts also submitted a detailed project report (DPR) to the government. The government has decided to take up the project under the public private partnership (PPP) mode and the Tourism department is dealing with the project. Though the Pragati Resorts had asked for 500 acres, the district administration in the first phase proposed to allot 250 acres in the village.
The chief minister’s office directed the district collector to identify a suitable location for the project. The Revenue department has identified about 690 acres of the land in the village. On the directive of the collector, Anandapuram tahsildar Ambedkar completed the survey and found that there were encroachments on the revenue lands. Some of the villagers have been cultivating cashew in the plain and the hillock areas.
According to sources, the district collector sent the file to the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration stating the current status of the land in the village. The sources said that the collector had recommended to the government to resettle the farmers like the recent settlement of people in the lands issue for the Indian Institute of Management. Some of the farmers encroached upon the government land and cultivating crops for the past several decades at Gambheeram village. The district administration selected the place for the IIM.
After a series of discussions with the farmers and field verifications, the government resettled them by paying Rs 20 lakh per acre for those with patta and Rs 6 lakh to those without patta. The farmers also accepted the offer and received the cheques. The sources said that the collector proposed to settle the matter similarly with the farmers of Tangudubilli village.
“Yes, as per the collector’s directions, a report on the ground realities has been submitted. The 250 acres of land, including hillocks, has been encroached upon by the locals for cultivating cashew,” the tahsildar told Express.
Meanwhile, the sources said that the government was very keen on the project and is giving all the clearances swiftly. The CMO is pursuing the developmental projects on a day-to-day basis. The biodiversity park is also one of the priority projects and very soon all the hurdles would be cleared, a senior official said.