Hyderabad: While the torrent of opposition to the land ordinance keeps the ruling BJP on tenterhooks in Delhi, in far off Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu is feeling the heat too. Desperate for land for the new capital of his state, he wants the land acquisition law in place in whatever form, but the protest against the bill threatens to delay it.
Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu. IBNLive
What makes the land act so crucial for Naidu? His government has chosen to take up land pooling for the establishment of a new state capital. But things don’t seem to be hunky dory at the ground level what with the adamant attitude of farmers in the villages on the river bank of the Krishna. These are multi-crop land which the farmers don’t want to let go of.
Now that the aftershocks of Anna Hazare’s agitation are felt down south in Vijayawada-Guntur region of Andhra Pradesh, the state government is keeping its fingers crossed on its ‘dream capital’ project proposed to be planned and executed by the Singapore government.
When reports last came in, farmers had handed over about 24,000 acres of land to the government, while another 13,000 acres are yet to be pooled to complete the target of 37,624 acres of private land.
While ministers of the state cabinet are on a mission mode to persuade the landlords to part with the land as the compensation offered was very attractive (1,200 square yards of developed land and 300 square yards of commercial land and annual cash component and a lot of other sops), farmers of the fertile lands on the river front are not ready to compromise for anything.
The total land identified for pooling is 45,625 acres, of which the government holds 8,001 acres. The rest needs to be pooled up for the construction of a capital city.
The government had already signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore Government for drawing up the master plan and then its implementation. If the land ordinance hits a roadblock in Delhi, the first effect would be on the Andhra government. Minister for Municipal Administration of Andhra Pradesh P Narayana, who has been overseeing the land pooling process, announced that the government was firm on its stand to build the capital in the identified land. If the farmers did not fall in line, the land would be acquired applying the Land Acquisition Act.
In fact, as if he was throwing a bait, Chief Minister Naidu had said that the benefits to be reaped by those who surrendered the land would be far more economically glamorous than those who refuse to do so. He had made sure that his doctrines were replete with fire and brimstone. If the LA Act was invoked, the farmers would, at the most, benefit to an extent of two and a half times (in rural areas, it could be four times) the registration value.
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It may be recalled that Naidu himself had said: "If the registration value per acre is Rs. 6 lakh, the farmers may at best get Rs 20 lakh towards compensation." But, would it be a windfall for those participating in the land pooling process remains a moot question.
Even as the state government has accelerated the process of completing the land pooling and announced 28 February as the deadline for surrendering the land, it is very unlikely that the farmers in the river front villages and those adjoining the National Highway No. 5 – Penumaka, Vundavilli, Venkatapalem and Tadepalli – would come forth to give up.
Men and womenfolk in these villages have no qualms in coming in front of the TV cameras to air their opposition. They are making no bones in asserting that they would prefer to die rather than to part with the land that is fetching them their livelihood. Farmers opposed to the land pooling represented to Anna Hazare and Medha Patkar to espouse their cause. They organised an exhibition near Jantar Mantar of 100 different crops grown in the proposed capital region.
Farmers and farm labourers in these villages assert that Naidu miserably failed in implementing his poll promises of waiver of farm loans and DWCRA loans and providing jobs. They are taking jibes at him for making impossible promises and they sought to know what was the guarantee that the compensation package of land pooled too wouldn’t meet the same fate?
Now, if the ordinance fails to go through the Andhra government will have to eternally wait to take up the work on the new state capital. Even if the BJP government bulldozes through and gets it enacted by calling for the joint session of Parliament, the forcible land acquisition may get entangled in legal wrangles.
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