In a move that would give a big push to the irrigation projects planned in the State, about 100 farmers from three villages — Bailampur, Thanedarpally and Mamidyal – falling under the proposed Kondapochamma reservoir came to the revenue divisional officer’s (RDO) office at Gajwel and signed documents surrendering their lands. These lands were reportedly registered to the government under GO Ms. No 120 issued by the State government recently.
According to Mr. Vijayender Reddy, RDO, Gajwel, about 100 acres were already given up by the evening of Monday by about 40 farmers from these three villages and it was expected to continue till late in the night. The farmers had accepted to the offer of ₹ 12 lakh per acre and construction of double bedroom houses for those who are losing houses in the village in addition to one bed-room house each for the children who are majors, in each family.
“The Chief Minister has offered an amount of ₹ 5.04 lakh in lieu of double bed-room house for the land oustees. But majority of them insisted on construction of double bed-room houses and hence it was decided to construct the houses for them,” said an officer. The surrender of lands are the result of discussions held by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao with groups of farmers from these villages on June 7 at his farm house. In addition to ₹ 12 lakh per acre and construction of double bed-room houses for the land oustees, the Chief Minister also promised to adopt these villages and offered development on a par with Erravalli and Narsannapet.
“How can we reject when the Chief Minister himself called us to the Farm House, held discussions and promised development?” asked a farmer who took part in the discussions.
The government had already issued notification for land acquisition under Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act- 2013. However the government has been registering these lands under GO 120 of LA Act – 2016 (Telangana amendment) which gives a provision for implementation. P. Narsa Reddy, Chairman, Road Development Corporation, has been personally monitoring the registrations by holding discussions with farmers and getting them come to the RDO office and registering documents relating to their lands.
