The State government is likely to prefer to go for compulsory land acquisition if the private land owners refuse to part with their land for the proposed deep sea port and Machilipatnam industrial corridor through the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS).
Excise and B.C. Welfare Minister K. Ravindra, accompanied by Machilipatnam Member of Parliament K. Narayana, told The Hindu on Sunday that the government would not withdraw the land acquisition notification issued on the midnight of August 30, 2015.
Drawing strength
It appears that the government is drawing strength from that notification to achieve its target of gathering 14,500 acres of private land through the LPS. Of the 30,000 acres proposed for the port and industrial corridor, nearly 14,500 acres is private land.
“The land acquisition notification will remain in force. On the other hand, we will gather the land through the LPS. The government will not allow diversion of land for any other activity in the case of those who do not wish to part with their land,” Mr. Ravindra said explaining the government’s plan.
Given the existing situation, one has to part with the land proposed for the deep sea port or the industrial corridor before the government uses the midnight decree, the land acquisition notification 2015.
In a sense, the concept of ‘consensual agreement’ as guaranteed in the Machilipatnam Area Development Land Pooling Scheme (Formulation & Implementation) Rules, 2016, will not come to the rescue of the private land owners as long as the land acquisition notification is in force.
Barren land?
In a bold statement that could trigger a debate, Mr. Narayana said that most of the private land proposed to be gathered was not fertile and did not have access to better irrigation facilities.
Mr. Narayana confirmed that nearly 2,300 acres of government land would soon be handed over to the port developer, Navayuga Engineering Company Limited, before completion of gathering land for the corridor.
The port would be developed over 4,800 acres on a build, operate and transfer mode.
