The attempt of the government to go for ‘forcible acquisition’ of 700 acres of assigned land for the proposed Petroleum University at Vangali village of Sabbavaram mandal, near here, came in for severe criticism from the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Bhu Hakkula Porata Committee.
The government has allocated only 200 acres for the proposed Petroleum University. When that was the case, what was the point in acquiring 700 acres, wondered CPI(M) State executive member Ch. Narasinga Rao at a media conference here on Saturday.
He said it was not proper to acquire more land than required and keep it vacant. Nearly half of the 10,000 acres, acquired at Atchutapuram in 2006 is lying vacant to this day.
The 700 acres of land, proposed to be acquired, is under cultivation. The farmers had dug wells and fixed motors and were getting two crops a year but the government had notified that 246 acres of land was not under cultivation and he challenged any official to visit the village and prove that the land was not under cultivation. Farmers were cultivating in 500 acres for the past 30 years and they should be issued pattas, he demanded.
Mr. Narasinga Rao said all the farmers in Vangali were either small or marginal farmers and their only source of livelihood was agricultural land in their possession. The Land Acquisition Act of 2013 notifies that acquisition could be done only with the approval of the farmers, who would lose their land, and after giving them all the rights and benefits. He alleged that the government was acquiring the land forcibly in violation of the Act.
