The Hindu Business Line : Row over Vizag SEZ land acquisition hots up

THE long-delayed acquisition of more than 9,000 acres of land for setting up a special economic zone in the Atchyuthapuram and Rambilli mandals of Visakhapatnam district is still unresolved. The Congress Government has passed a GO pegging the compensation at Rs 2.95 lakh per acre but the farmers are not happy with it.

The Telugu Desam Government, which had first proposed the SEZ during its tenure, could not persuade the farmers to part with their lands for a compensation of Rs 2 lakh per acre. The farmers were insistent on a compensation of Rs 4 lakh per acre. The Congress leaders, who supported the demand then, are now finding themselves in a fix.

Seeking a compensation of Rs 4 lakh per acre as compensation and a job for a member of each of the families to be displaced, the farmers staged a dharna at the Atchyutapuram Junction on Thursday. They opposed the recent GO fixing the compensation at Rs 2.95 lakh and said any attempt to distribute cheques during the Chief Minister's Rajiv Pallebata programme scheduled for August 29 would be opposed.

Addressing the members of the SEZ Displaced Persons' Welfare Society on the occasion, the CITU State President, Mr Ch Narasinga Rao, said the Congress leaders, including the Minister for Commercial Taxes, Mr Konatala Ramakrishna, who had agitated along with them before the elections, were going back on the commitment made at that time. Even the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, who had come for electioneering at that time, had given an assurance at Atchyutapuram that the compensation would be increased and jobs given.

Mr Narasinga Rao appealed to the Chief Minister not to distribute cheques towards compensation on Sunday. Stating that farmers were in no hurry to take the compensation, he also asked officials not to rush with distribution but take a month's time to discuss the issue with the Chief Minister.

The AP Rythu Sangham President, Mr B. Tulasidas, accused the Congress of changing its stance on the issue of compensation. He urged the Chief Minister to make a statement on the issue of compensation during his visit. The agitation would be intensified and, if necessary, another yatra would be taken to Hyderabad to press for the demands of the displaced.

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