MACHILIPATNAM: The state government appears to have been caught in a piquant situation with the farmers of six villages in Machiliaptnam mandal threatening to commit suicide if their land was taken away by the government for the Machilipatnam seaport. Farmers of Manginapudi, Tapasipudi, Gopuvanipalem, Mekavarithota, Chinkaragraharam and Pedakaragraharam villages met collector Babu A during the ‘Meekosam’ progarmme here on Monday and conveyed their opposition to the government move to take over their land. They told him that for generations they had been raising crops in the land proposed to be taken from them and that in such an eventuality, they would lose their livelihood.
Stating that they had information that entire villages were going to disappear, they asked the collector what kind of justice would the government be doing to them by giving one job to every family after robbing them of their livelihood? They said they would be left with no alternative but to commit suicide if the government did not abandon its proposal to acquire their land.
The collector sought to allay their fears by assuring them the government would not do injustice to them. He said that the notification for the acquisition of their land would be issued only after discussing the issue with all the farmers.
“If the port is in place, then the crackers factory will materialise. If the crackers factory takes shape, the youth will get jobs. Though a land survey has been done, it does not mean that all the surveyed land will be acquired by the government,” Babu told them and added that already the government had reduced the extent of land to be acquired from private persons by 500 acres.
“The farmers who would be losing their houses would be getting new ones and those who who would be losing their land would be getting adequate compensation,” the collector said.