SIDDIPET: Oustees under Gajwel constituency which Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao represents, say that court cases could become an obstacle for Konda Pochamma project. Officials say that 4,000 acres of land are needed for the construction of the Konda Pochamma project. Except for 147 acres, rest of the land has been acquired.
Farmers who own these 147 acres are demanding compensation as per Land Acquisition Act 2013 rejecting the government offer of Rs 12 lakh per acre. Officials have been expediting the project works though the issue is pending in the court.
However, farmers are confident that final victory will be of theirs. Recently, Siddipet Collector P Venkatram Reddy held a meeting with the oustees.
He asked the farmers to accept rehabilitation and resettlement, double bedroom, R&R package and other benefits but the oustees didn’t agree. They told the Collector that government has done injustice to them by offering Rs 12 lakh per acre when the market rate is Rs 25 lakh per acre.
A Congress leader who is also an oustee was present in the meeting with the Collector and told Express that farmers from Bailampur, Thanedarpally and Mamidyala villages who own the 147 acres had approached the court.
He said that if the farmers accepted the R&R package, their case could become weak. He added that some small farmers had also filed cases in the court. The oustees said officials have to acquire 33 acres in Bailampur village, 110 acres in Mamidyala village and remaining in Thanedarpally.
Meanwhile, officials will release Kaleshwaram water into Annapurna project within next 10 days from Mid Manair project. They have been making arrangements to release the water to Ranganayak Sagar and from there to Konda Pochamma reservoir.
When the Collector was contacted on the matter, he said that court cases would not be an obstacle and all the measures were being taken as per law. Venkatram Reddy said the target was to collect 46,000 acres of land for the construction of irrigation projects and only few hundred acres were to be acquired.
He said that around Rs 4,500 crore have been distributed to farmers as compensation and there is not a single complaint of irregularities.