Farmers in Mandadam village, which falls in the capital city area, are up in arms over legalities raised by the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) and are threatening to resume agriculture operations in the next couple of days.
These farmers had agreed to participate in the Land Pooling Scheme and received their first compensation cheques. But now they are angry that the government is raising long-forgotten legalities to avoid paying compensation to them.
Farmer Aluri Siva Sankara Naga Subrahmanyam said, “the CRDA had clearly agreed that the land I possess is patta land. But all of a sudden the officials are now saying that it is assigned land. How did CRDA enter into an agreement with me without verifying the records? These are cheap tricks.”
To support its claims that this is assigned land, the government is banking on a gazette notification issued from Fort St. George by the Madras Presidency in 1921. That gazette notified that lands in Mandadam village ceased to be forest land, and subsequently assigned it to sepoys and people of the depressed classes. “But things have changed significantly over the decades. Umpteen transactions have taken place. Banks have sanctioned loans,” protested another farmer, A. Nagamalleswara Rao.
An extent of 520.17 acres in Mandadam and 141.13 acres in Venkatapalem villages are assigned lands, as per the government’s claims. Farmers possessing lands in survey numbers 465 to 580 and 266 to 292 in these villages respectively stand to lose their compensation benefits if the government stands firm on this assertion. “If these lands were assigned lands, why did MROs and CRDA officials declare them as patta lands in the agreements,” asks A. Brahmendra, a farmer.
Several farmers said they are now going to resume agricultural operations in defiance. They have the support of the CPI(M) Capital Region Committee.
They are threatening to resume agriculture operations in the next couple of days
