A day after the AP government has issued notification for land pooling in Krishna river bed (lanka lands), land owners are demanding that they should be paid compensation on par with dry lands.
“We demand that the government allot 1,000 square yards of residential plot and 250 square yards of commercial plot as they had promised to the land owners in dry lands. We have been cultivating banana and yam on the river bed lands for the last 50 years even securing agricultural loans from bank on pledging pattadar pass books,’’ Puli Lazar, village welfare cooperative society president told The Hindu on Monday.
After identifying 1946.67 acres of lanka lands in Krishna river bed, the Guntur district administration issued notification for pooling of land. The fertile lands in the river bed have been the life line for many families most of them belonging to SC/ST communities.
The uncertainty over the lanka lands has forced some land owners to sell them away at throw away prices.
The move comes as the Singapore consultants are giving final touches to the master plan and the fertile lanka lands figure in the scheme of things to develop tourist islands.
So far, the government’s indecision on the ownership of ‘lanka lands’, has added to their anxiety of land owners, mostly belonging to SC communities.
“The notification asking the land owners to submit consent letters in form 9.3 has been issued and the last date for submitting the applications is January 5,” said a senior district official.
Land owners of small parcels of land belonging to SC/ST community said they would be happy to part with their lands but urged the government to reconsider the package.
Apart from lanka lands, the villages of Uddandrayunipalem and Lingayapalam, which the government had identified as core capital region, has a chunk of 300 acres of assigned land but the government had refused to accept ownership of lands since the lands have not been registered.
