Rs. 940 crore needed to acquire land for Kovvada power plant

The an estimation made by the State government on Wednesday said that a fund of around Rs. 940 crore was needed for land acquisition for the establishment of atomic power plant in Kovvada and rehabilitation of people living the region.

Following the directive from the Central and State governments, the district officials have intensified efforts for the completion of land acquisition process at the earliest. The atomic power project needs 2,600 acres and as many as 1,983 families from Kovvada, Ramachandrapuram and other nearby areas would be relocated.

Srikakulam Collector P. Lakshmi Narasimham, Joint Collector Vivek Yadav and District Revenue Officer B.H.S. Venkata Rao and other senior officials have held series of meetings in the last few days.

Further, the government will send a delegation for conducting the mandatory social impact survey ahead of acquiring land. Mr. Venkata Rao told

The Hindu that the government would extend the best possible package to the evictees as per the Land Acquisition Act. “The social impact survey will help us know the condition of the evictees so that justice is meted out to all ,” he added.

However, the government is non-committal over conducting the public hearing as sought by the Left parties, which argued that land should not be acquired without people’s consent.

“People are not ready to accept the rehabilitation packages. The government is trying to mislead them without explaining the possible impact of the plant on environment. We strongly oppose social impact survey and land acquisition,” said CPI (M) district secretary Bhaviri Krishnamurthy.

Govt. remains non-committal over conducting public hearing

Srikakulam administration gears up for social impact survey