Resentment among a section of farmers over the reported move to set up a toll plaza at Dharma Thanda near Kusumanchi town as part of the road widening project to expand the 60-km Khammam-Suryapet highway into four-lanes is fast brewing.
The aggrieved farmers of Dharma Thanda and Keshavapuram villages are gearing up to hold a series of meetings under the aegis of the newly formed Land Losers Association from Wednesday to mount pressure on the government agencies to drop the move and select some other site for the proposed toll plaza.
Land acquisition
A group of tribal farmers of Dharma Thanda have already submitted memoranda to the revenue authorities concerned opposing the move to set up a toll plaza between Dharma Thanda and Chegomma cross roads near a temple on the outskirts of Kusumanchi town.
They contended that the move would entail acquisition of large extent of land to expand the existing two-lane stretch into eight lanes under the revenue village limits for the proposed toll plaza.
The aggrieved farmers appealed to the authorities to prevent loss of their agricultural lands, their sole source of livelihood, by prevailing upon the government agencies to alter the alignment design accordingly.
A section of the villagers of Jellacheruvu have been demanding extension of the proposed flyover as part of the ₹1,000-crore highway expansion project to their village to avoid loss of their agricultural lands.
Some aggrieved farmers of the village stalled the land survey by the revenue staff on Saturday demanding enhanced compensation for their lands likely to be acquired for the road widening project.
The government should address the concerns of farmers and other prospective land losers before going ahead with the land acquisition process, said B Gangadhar, secretary, Telangana Rythu Sangham, Kusumanchi.
None is opposed to the expansion of the highway but it should not be done at the cost of small and marginal farmers, he said, demanding that the government should ensure payment of adequate compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement of the land losers as per the Land Acquisition Act, 2013.
