KAMAREDDY: Tension prevailed at the District Collector’s office in Kamareddy on Thursday as hundreds of farmers along with their families poured into the town and staged a protest demanding scrapping of the draft master plan of Kamareddy municipality.
Leaders of the BJP and Congress expressed their solidarity with the farmers. Emotionally-charged farmers told the media that the authorities had come up with the draft master plan without looking into their concerns.
Farmers from several villages, including Ilchipur, Adluru-Yellareddy, Lingapur, Devunipally and Tekriyal under the Kamareddy and Yellareddy Assembly constituencies, have been agitating for the last one month against the master plan, demanding the exclusion of their agricultural lands from the proposed green zone and industrial zone.
The angry protest comes a day after a farmer, Payyavula Ramulu (40), allegedly died by suicide on Wednesday in Adluru-Yellareddy, fearing that he would lose his land. Police foiled an attempt by some farmers and Ramulu’s relatives to stage a protest along with the body in Kamareddy.
The protesting farmers said that 1,210 acres of agricultural land has been brought under the green zone and industrial zone under the draft master plan and expressed the fear that the government would take over their land.
Earlier, under the leadership of the farmers' committee, protestors assembled at the CSI grounds before marching to the collectorate in a huge rally.
Stating that around 500 acres of land was proposed to take for the industrial zone in Kamareddy, Rama Rao categorically told all the city planners and municipal commissioners that government would not trouble anyone, especially farmers.
“We are here to help people and ensure structured, planned development of cities/towns. As part of this, we are preparing master plans. I never told you to trouble the people,” Rama Rao told the officials.He instructed them to call for objections from the people, study their grievances and make changes accordingly in the master plans, if objections are raised like in Kamareddy.
The officials informed Rama Rao that 77 master plans of various towns/cities had been prepared so far. The minister directed officials to prepare master plans of all the towns/cities by the end of March.