The Machilipatnam Area Development Land Pooling Scheme (Formulation & Implementation) Rules, 2016 issued on Saturday put the livelihood concerns of traditional fisher folk of Machilipatnam in question.
Though the State government claims that the packages offered through the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) for the Machilipatnam port and industrial corridor and capital city of Amaravati are same, no specific package was offered to the fisher folk in Machilipatnam. They would be the most affected communities in the proposed projects.
According to the then Collector M. Raghunandan Rao’s report – prepared in 2014 – on the rehabilitation package required for land acquisition for developing the deep sea port, 563 families have to be rehabilitated. Ironically, most of them are traditional fisher folk who depend on fishing round the year.
“The government shall provide pension of Rs. 2,500 per month per family for a period of 10 years to all landless families through inter-operable disbursement method through the Machilipatnam Region Urban Development Social Security Fund based on socio economic survey,” according to the LPS Rules 2016. It even offered special package to those who part with their land with trees and poultry. The socio-economic survey is yet to be taken up.
“The Machilipatnam Area Development Land Pooling Scheme Rules 2016 is otherwise an extraction from the Amaravati LPS. Otherwise, it would have addressed the concerns of the fisher folk and their future,” said former Machilipatnam MLA Perni Nani, who led the farmers’ movement against the land acquisition in Machilipatnam. “We are exploring legal options to stop implementation of the Machilipatnam LPS”, added Mr. Nani.
Tension in villages
Tension prevailed along the coastal villages as they were driven into confusion about their survival strategy. “We have been driven into great dilemma on the rehabilitation of our village for the port project,” Pedasingi Edukondalu and his fellow villagers of Campbell Peta told The Hindu . Campbell Peta with nearly 300 families is one of the villages expected to be rehabilitated.
Ironically, the land acquisition notification issued in August 2015 and the latest LPS notification are in force, leaving the farmers in great confusion.
There is widespread fear among farmers that the government would use the acquisition notification as a weapon against those who refuse to part with their land under the LPS.
