The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet sub-committee on land pooling for capital city has proposed to acquire one lakh acres of land in the Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri region in phases to help build a massive capital city.
The sub-committee comprising Ministers Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, P. Narayana, Palle Raghunatha Reddy, P. Pullarao and Ravela Kishore Babu held its first meeting here on Friday considered different methods for acquiring land and decided to give priority for land pooling as it would give maximum benefit to the farmers.
The panel said the region had 20 lakh acres of which about 20,000 acres comprised government and forest lands.
Speaking to media persons here, Mr. Raghunatha Reddy said land could be acquired under the Land Acquisition Act, negotiations, land pooling and through Town Planning Act provisions.
However, the committee in the wake of experience in the three capital cities – Chandigarh, Gandhinagar and Naya Raipur -- felt that land pooling would result in a win-win situation for the government and the land owners.
The government proposed to acquire about 25,000 acres in each phase of the four phases depending on the response of the farmers.
They proposed one lakh acres for the capital city as well as social infrastructure that would meet the requirement of the next 50 to 100 years.
Crucial meet on Oct. 6Mr. Raghunatha Reddy said that a meeting would be held on October 6 with Collectors of Krishna and Guntur and Registration Department officials of VGTM Region, to finalise the method and modalities for land acquisition. In the area identified for land pooling, transactions would be stopped within 10 days.
The land pooling policy would be announced in a month and the land acquisition would be completed in six months. The first phase of construction should commence in a year and completed in three years, he said.
On the ratio of developed land to be given to farmers under land pooling, the committee studied the formula in three cities.
On an average, 50 per cent of land would be earmarked for roads and other infrastructure. While in Chandigarh, about 22 to 23 per cent of developed land per acre was given to farmers, in Gandhinagar it was 25 per cent and in Naya Raipur, it was about 29 per cent depending on cost of development.
Mr. Narayana said the committee was considering giving about 35 to 40 per cent of developed land to farmers. The committee estimated that the development would cost any where between Rs. 80 lakh and Rs.1 crore per acre, Mr. Pullarao added.
Apart from share in developed land, a proposal to pay a rent of Rs.15,000 to Rs.25,000 per acre to the farmer for five to 10 years was also under consideration to compensate the immediate loss of agricultural income, he added.
