BJP State president Kanna Lakshminarayana on Wednesday alleged that the pooling of 33,000 acres of land for the development of Capital city Amaravati was a big scandal.
Lands had been allotted to fictitious persons, entities, and associates of former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the BJP leader said in a letter addressed to Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
‘Insider trading’
This apart, there was insider trading in the acquisition of assigned lands in Amaravati, Mr. Lakshminarayna alleged in the letter, and demanded that an investigation be ordered into all land allotments.
In a separate letter, Mr. Lakshminarayana suggested to the Chief Minister to scrap the free sand policy and, instead, fix a price to generate significant revenues to the exchequer and check sand mafia.
He pointed out that the sand mining that took place in Amaravati was without the mandatory Environment Impact Assessment, which attracted punitive action by the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
Polavaram project
The BJP State president further said that several lapses had taken place in the acquisition of land for the Polavaram project too. The tribal people affected by the project should be compensated as per the revised norms, he said.
There were also anomalies in the preparation of the list of the eligible people for the R&R package, which should be rectified, Mr. Lakshminarayana said.
Committees should be constituted at the mandal level for monitoring the problems faced by the people displaced by the project, he said.
‘Dharmic parishads’
Further, the Chief Minister should undertake a complete overhaul of the temple establishments. The government should establish ‘dharmic parishads’ in Hindu temples with competent people who have faith in the religion, he said. The parishads should have control over the temples and staff, he added. The BJP leader also called for protecting the temple lands from encroachments.
AgriGold case
Mr. Lakshminarayana also demanded a CBI inquiry into the ₹10,000-crore AgriGold scam, which was bigger than the Saradha chit fund scandal in West Bengal. Nearly 32 lakh depositors fell prey to the company management, which was hand-in- glove with a few TDP leaders, he alleged.
