The district administration has served notices to cement companies which encroached more than 400 acres of government land in Palnadu area particularly around Dachepalli.
The companies were asked to furnish reports on the lands under their possession before December 21. Joint Collector N. Yuvaraj issued instructions to this effect at a meeting with the representatives of cement companies held on Wednesday.
Mr. Yuvaraj said the issue was a topic of intense debate in the previous District Review Committee. Stringent action would be taken against those who occupied the government lands, he warned.
Meanwhile, the CPI activists have symbolically occupied more than a 1,000 acres of government land in Rompicherla mandal and adjoining areas in the last few days as part of the party's Bhooporatam (fight for land).
They erected party flags and ‘distributed' the land to poor people but actually taken into possession.
This is in addition to lands already occupied across the district, mainly Tenali, Piduguralla, and Vinukonda mandals, during the peak of the ‘fight for land'. The lands so occupied, excluding the ones claimed earlier this week, became permanent dwellings for about 15,000 people.
Nowhere else in the State have so many people from the weaker sections occupied government lands under the aegis of CPI, according to party sources.
The CPI has till now occupied government lands in more than 40 centres including Guntur city.
The Revenue and Police Departments are monitoring the situation and are prepared to crack down on the agitators if they take up permanent constructions.
