VISAKHAPATNAM: Land pooling was going on transparently and not even an inch of land was being acquired forcibly from farmers in the Visakhapatnam district, District Collector V Vinay Chand said.
Addressing media persons here on Friday, the Collector said land pooling was taken up to distribute house sites to the landless poor on Ugadi on March 25 as part of the State government’s flagship programme.
He said unlike Amaravati, government land was being pooled in a transparent manner under the land pooling scheme in the district.
He said the government has sanctioned Rs 1,300 crore for land pooling and compensation was being paid immediately to the farmers.
He said under survey number 141/1 in Pinagadi village, there is no private land. Besides, they were not violating Supreme Court guidelines with regard to water bodies during land pooling, he said. Wakf and endowment lands were also not being acquired, the Collector added.
As many as 2,50,534 beneficiaries were identified in the district, of them 1,77,961 are in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation area.
In rural areas, including Vizag Agency, 65,838 beneficiaries were identified and for them 1590.11 acres of land is required.
He said 1368.89 acres of government land has already been acquired. In addition, 168.53 acres of assigned land was acquired. Only 51.62 acres of patta land was acquired for which Rs 21.15 crore was paid.
Vinay Chand said it was proposed to develop 831 layouts under the scheme, of them 451 were being developed under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
While 380 layouts were being developed by the housing department, development of 476 layouts has been already completed and the remaining will be developed by March 10.
In Paderu only government land was being given to tribals; plenty of government is available there.
The Collector said beneficiaries were being identified during door-to-door survey conducted by village and ward volunteers.
In 59 villages, 6,116.50 acres has been identified for land pooling and it was divided into 58 blocks. The farmers have already given consent letters for 4,848.88 acres of land in 40 blocks.
He said the entire proceedings of Grama Sabhas held for land pooling has been videographed. There was no forceful acquisition, he confirmed.
He said 25,195 beneficiaries were found eligible for houses under Andhra Pradesh Township And Infrastructure Development Corporation.
Remaining 1,52,000 beneficiaries will be given house site pattas. He said it was estimated that 1,300 acres of land would be required to give developed plots to the farmers.
He said Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority, which will develop the layouts, will get 950 acres as part of its 15 per cent share towards development of land.
The Collector said the VMRDA would monetise the land and use it for development projects.