The villagers of Thanedarpally are worried about the Kondapochamma reservoir, which falls under Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao constituency. The government officials at Siddipet have informed them that the government has already decided to acquire the land and they would be paid compensation under the newly passed Land Acquisition Act-2016 (Telangana Amendment).
The villagers fear that the compensation paid would be far less compared to the ‘market value’ of the land. “I have 15 acres of land and in the past, I refused to sell my land for the offer price of ₹18 lakh per acre. We do not know how much the government would offer. The road side land at Pamulaparthy is being sold at ₹50 lakh per acre,” said Nanabolu Ranga Reddy, a farmer from the neighbouring Mamidyala village. This village has about 2,100 acre of farm land, and notification was issued for about 1,700 acres for land acquisition.
“During the tenure of the late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, we were informed that a reservoir with a capacity of 1.5 tmcft would come up. After Telangana Rashtra Samithi came to power, speculation was ripe about an increase in the capacity and it is ranging from 7 tmcft to 21 tmcft. No one is confirming it or denying it,” said B. Veeresham Goud, another farmer.
Submits memorandum
The villagers said that they met Collector P. Venkataram Reddy and submitted a memorandum stating that they were not ready to sell their land but the officials made it clear to the farmers that their lands would be acquired as per law.
“We cannot get even one acre land outside after selling three acres of land in our village to the government,” said Tanner Lingam, another farmer.
