The State Committee of the Telangana’s Displaced (Telangana Bhoonirvasithula Rashtra Committee) sought to debunk the government’s claim of paying higher-than-prescribed compensation for land acquisition through GO 123, by producing the amounts paid for the proposed pharma city in Kandukur mandal of Ranga Reddy district.
Recently, the Telangana government has submitted an affidavit to the High Court vouching that the compensation paid as per the GO is higher than that prescribed by the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, which the committee contended at a press meet on Tuesday.
As per the sub-registrar records, the value of land in Muchcharla village in Kandukur Mandal was fixed at Rs.7.5 lakh per acre in 2015. As per the LA Act, the compensation paid should not be less than three times the market value, even if the land is ‘assigned’ in nature.
Registration value
“Even if the registration value is taken as the market value, the minimum amount payable for each acre is Rs. 22.5 lakh, whereas the amount paid in Muchcharla was only Rs.12.5 lakh per acre for patta lands, and Rs.8 lakh per acre for assigned lands,” B. Venkat, convenor of the committee, pointed out.
Similarly, the registration value of land in the Meerkhanpet village of the same mandal was Rs.6.05 lakh per acre, which puts the compensation payable in excess of Rs.18 lakh. However, the State Government paid only Rs.7.7 lakh per acre.
Market value ranges between Rs.45 lakh and Rs.60 lakh in both these villages. Citing Panjaguda, where similar payments were made under GO 123, the committee’s report said a total of 2,826 acres of assigned and patta lands are being acquired in these three villages alone. The collective loss to farmers amounts to over Rs.300 crore, Mr.Venkat claimed.
Further acquisition of six to seven thousand acres for the 15,000-acre pharma city will deprive farmers of Rs.1000-crore compensation if the government has its way.
Lost livelihoods
Even the provision pertaining to compensation for lost livelihoods is given the go by, which further impoverishes each farmer by Rs. 5 lakh or Rs.2,000 per month for 20 years. Each 18-year-old should be considered a separate family as per the Act, which is not heeded to. The collective loss thus suffered by the three villages amounts to Rs.100 crore more.
The lands being procured for pharma city are not useless as being publicised by the government, but have enormous real estate value owing to their proximity to the international airport and the Outer Ring Road, the committee said. Lands in other villages falling in the purview of the same sub-registrar are being sold at market value ranging between Rs.50 lakh and Rs.80 lakh per acre. Alleging arm-twisting tactics by the government to make the farmers part with their lands, the committee claimed that the GO 123 even facilitates use of the land for purposes other than stated outwardly.
