Rumbles of discontent in the capital region of Amaravati are beginning to get louder with farmers in this village in Guntur district defiantly resuming agricultural operations on Thursday.
These are cultivators tilling ceiling and assigned lands, which means that they do not have ownership rights in the eyes of the government although they do possess legit documents such as pattadar passbooks.
The tillers of Thullur say ministers P. Narayana and Prattipati Pulla Rao and Tadikonda MLA Tenali Sravan Kumar have in the past promised them compensation for surrendering the land to the Amaravati project. While not on par with benefits promised to owner farmers, these tillers had been promised developed land and annuity payments if they would cease operations on the land needed for the upcoming capital. Encouraged by the promises, these farmers gave their consent to the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS).
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But since they did so, there has been no official communication from the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) confirming their annuity or other benefits. Having ceased agriculture operations along with owner farmers, they had been sitting idle after the kharif season began. Their patience ran out on Thursday, on the eve of a cabinet meeting called by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu in Vijayawada on Friday.
At daybreak on Thursday, a clutch of farmers rolled out in their tractors to their fields and began clearing up the brush that had grown in their fields since winter.
“We’ve neither here nor there,” said Ch. Ramulu, a 65-year old. “We don’t get pensions like landless labourers in the capital region, nor annuity like owner farmers.”
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Some of the farmers pointed out that they are being denied benefits because they are Dalits. Farmers Jetti Lakshmi and Kanteti Veerlankaiah said they had made countless rounds of the CRDA offices seeking compensation. The ministers’ promises were oral.
The CRDA needs hard and fast rules like government orders to hand out annuities and pensions.
Ironically, it was the government that distributed ceiling lands to 94 farmers in this village back in 1992. Each farmer got 41 cents.
Possession, meaning the title papers, was given in 2002. Since, then they have been cultivating the land.