Finally, the district administration has issued a notification for acquiring land in Vemulaghat and Erravalli villages in Toguta and Kondapaka mandals under the Land Acquisition Act of 2013. The notification copies were pasted at the panchayat offices of both the villages on Friday.
The government has proposed to construct the Mallannasagar reservoir as part of the Kaleswaram project, and some farmers of Vemulaghat demanded implementation of the LA Act and even approached the High Court in this regard.
According to sources, the notification was issued for acquiring 775 acres at Vemulaghat and 161 acres at Erravalli, stating that these lands were required for public purpose. It was issued under Section 11(1) of Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act-2013.
The notification also stated that the officials had the authority to conduct a survey on these lands, and under Section 11(4) the notified land could not be sold or purchased.
“Under Section 15, the owners of the above mentioned lands can file objections, if any, before the land acquisition officer within 60 days in writing,” the notification stated.
The notification was signed by Special Deputy Collector (Land Acquisition), Unit- III, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella Sujala Sravanthi project; Revenue Divisional Officer, Siddipet, Joint Collector, and the Collector.
The farmers of these villages, whose lands were notified, have until November 30 to file their objections.
“There were lot of mistakes in the notification as far mentioning the land being owned by certain farmers. We are going to check the same and challenge the extent of the land before the land acquisition officers,” said Hayatuddin, a farmer from Vemulaghat.
“Some farmers from our village rejected the idea of selling the land under GO 123, and the notification might have been issued to acquire the same,” said K. Shivakumar of Erravalli, who once fought for the implementation of the LA Act but later agreed to sell his land under the government order.
