With instructions from the higher authorities, the district administration has speeded up work for land acquisition for National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) that is coming up at Zaheerabad, bordering Karnataka. The NIMZ is to come up on 12,625 acres - spread in Nyalakal and Jarasangam mandals. The facility was sanctioned for the State as part of bifurcation of united Andhra Pradesh, and the land acquisition commenced in 2015. It was decided that in the first phase about 35,000 acres needs to be acquired, while the government has already acquired 2,964 acres, and the remaining is to be acquired shortly.
Collector M. Hanumantha Rao had already held two review meetings in this regard and issued directions to the officials concerned. It was stated that notifications were issued for five villages, and residents of two villages have raised objections over the land acquisition. Though Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had requested the Union government to sanction ₹500 crore from the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) for the development of internal road and other infrastructure at NIMZ, the Centre has clarified that the commitment from DPIIT is only to the extent of ₹3 crore for funding the cost of master plan. “Revising of land rates are mandatory before any land acquisition, and the government has issued notifications without revision of land rates. This is not acceptable for us. Secondly, environmental clearance was not taken for the NIMZ so far,” said B. Ramachander, president, NIMZ Bhubadhitula Porata Committee. “Why not this project at Narayanakhed, where lands are barren, instead of Zaheerabad?” asked Ganapathi Deekshitulu, a land owner of Hadnoor in Nyalkal mandal. He received notices for land acquisition in the month. He said that notifications must be issued in local papers instead of papers published at other places.
