SANGAREDDY: After the Centre gave its in-principle approval for the Regional Ring Road (RRR) for Hyderabad, farmers in erstwhile Medak district are worried over forcible acquisition of their land.
As per the proposal, the RRR will start at Choutuppal in Nalgonda district and traverse through Jagdevpur and Gajwel in Siddipet district, Toopran and Narasapur in Medak district and Sangareddy.
From there it will pass through Shankarpalli, Chevella, Kondurg, Shadnagar, Karthal, Yacharam and rejoin at Choutuppal.
Now, the farmers in erstwhile Medak district are worried because of the experience that the farmers who gave their lands for Kaleshwaram Project had. They say that they had been slighted by the government in payment of compensation and fear a repeat when it comes to land acquisition for the RRR project.
The farmers are relying on maps that are in circulation to know the areas through which the RRR would pass and are apprehensive that they would be asked to part with their land for laying of the road.
Farmers in Toopran, Narsapur, Gajwel and Jagdevpur refer to the inadequate compensation paid by the government for lands taken for Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme (KLIS) and wonder if they would be forced to undersell their land to the government.
At present, the open market price per acre of land is is anywhere between Rs 1 crore and Rs 2 crore in areas through which the RRR might pass. They wonder if the government would at least offer half that price.
Brahmananda Reddy, a farmer of Narsapur, says: “The government had paid only Rs 6 lakh to Rs 7 lakh per acre when it acquired land for the construction of KLIS canals in Siddipet and Medak districts. If it pays the same price for RRR, we would be losing out heavily in the bargain.”
Many farmers from towns and villages are visiting the revenue officials to inquire about the exact location, survey numbers and the official map of the route. But the officials are saying that they have no information on RRR and the areas through which it would pass. A revenue official said that many farmers are worried as they do not know the exact areas through which the RRR would pass. A Tahsildar said: “We do not have clear information. But farmers think that we are trying to hide it. The State government has already sent proposals to the Centre for the RRR and for which Centre has agreed. We only know this much.”
The RRR project is estimated to cost around Rs 17,000 crore, a National Highways Department official said and added that the total road length will be of 338 km. “The State government has so far not issued any directions to the Revenue Department on land acquisition,” he said. The farmers’ troubles will start when the officials begin the process of land acquisition.
TS asked to expedite land acquisition
It is learned that the RRR has been named National Highway 161 AA. Land acquisition might cost Rs 9,522 crore and, according to one official, the Centre has asked the State government to expedite the land acquisition process.