Finally, the bottleneck for the proposed construction of Mallannasagar, a 50 tmcft reservoir as part of bigger Kaleswaram project, is going to be removed with the government coming forward to issue a notification under Section 30 of the Land Acquisition Act- 2013. The notification would be issued in a day or two for about 1,168 acres.
The notification pertains to the lands of farmers of Vemulaghat village who had already approached the High Court seeking implementation of LA Act, instead of GO 123. Some villagers from other villages had also approached the court in this regard. Of this, 992.27 acres belongs to farmers of Vemulaghat, while 176 acres belongs to some farmers where there is dispute among brothers and relatives. The authorities are going in for the notification as no consent is required from farmers to acquire land under the LA Act.
As much as 17,392 acres is required for the construction of the reservoir, out of which 9,306.7 acres is patta land, while the remaining 8,626 acres is government land. The administration was able to convince farmers and get their land sold under GO 123, and so far farmers have registered 6,541 acres of land to the government. They were paid Rs. 6 lakh per acre and so far Rs. 392.46 crore was paid by the government as land price for farmers and cheques were already handed over to them.
Another 1,326 acres would be purchased from farmers, which is stated to be ‘trouble-free’ as farmers are willing to sell their land. Even in this category, 464 acres was already notified, and the registration process has commenced. Consent has to the obtained for another 650 acres, and for 427 acres, consent will be taken only after conducting the survey for the required land.
The government has appointed 10 registration teams and 11 revenue teams to speed up the process of registration for Mallannasagar lands and a GO was issued in this regard.
“We are going to issue a notification in a day or two as some farmers demanded implementation of the LA Act and approached the High Court. The process will be completed as per norms,” Mr. Muthyam Reddy, Revenue Divisional Officer, Siddipet, told The Hindu .
