KAKINADA : The two-decade-old land dispute involving the Kakinada Special Economic Zone (KSEZ) is nearing resolution, with the State government speeding up the process of returning land to affected farmers. Around 1,480 of the 1,785 eligible farmers have already got back their land, which was acquired for the KSEZ project.
The dispute dates back to 2006, when the then government proposed acquiring nearly 10,000 acres for the SEZ. Following opposition from political parties and farmers, the government finally allotted 3,400 acres to KSEZ, while the company separately purchased 4,800 acres. Farmers owning 2,180 acres opposed the acquisition and continued their legal and public fight for the return of their land.
Ahead of the 2019 Assembly elections, former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy promised to restore the land if voted to power. After assuming office, his government issued GO Ms No.12 on March 4, 2021, paving the way for the return of the land. However, the registration process was interrupted by the 2024 elections. During the same period, the free-registration option was removed from the Stamps and Registration Department’s online portal, forcing farmers to face registration charges running into lakhs.
After the formation of the new government, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan intervened and directed officials to exempt registration charges for the transfer of the 2,180 acres from Kakinada SEZ Ltd to the farmers. Following his directions, registrations resumed and gathered pace.
So far, registrations have been completed for 1,131 acres out of 1,407 acres under the original land category, while 700 acres out of 773 acres of alternate land have also been registered. The remaining cases are largely pending due to family disputes.
Joint Collector Apoorva Bharat said the administration was taking all steps to complete the process quickly. “All departments have been directed to provide survey records, land details and other required documents without delay so that registrations in favour of eligible farmers are completed at the earliest without causing any inconvenience to the beneficiaries,” he said.