Despite serious efforts and trying to convince assigned farmers to part with their lands under land pooling, officials are facing hurdles in moving ahead in Sangareddy district.
Recently when officials reportedly tried to resume land from the assigned farmers at Sadashivapet in the district, the farmers opposed the move stating that lands were the lifeline for them and it was not possible to return the land.
According to sources, 114.21 acres of land in Survey Number 165 in Sadashivapet were assigned to farmers a few decades back by the previous governments. However, the present government has been making efforts to resume the land under ‘land pooling,’ to develop them as plots and sell them to prospective buyers. The government has been offering 600 yards developed plot per acre to the assigned farmers in lieu of surrendering their land.
Land pooling
“This will be a win-win situation for both the assignees as well as the government. Those farmers who were assigned these lands can never monetize the land though they can till and do agriculture. Instead, the developed plot registered on their name is worth of few lakhs of rupees, which means almost cash in hand,” explained a revenue official seeking anonymity.
The officials were successful in pooling about 500 acres of land at Jinnaram and Kandi for the purpose of layout and the land was already handed over to Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority.
Some CPI(M) leaders recently visited these lands along with farmers and urged the authorities not to resume land pooling warning that they would be forced to agitate if the government failed to stop taking back these lands. They said that all these lands belong to Dalits.
Protest staged
The farmers also held a protest before the Collectorate a few days ago and submitted a memorandum to District Revenue Officer (DRO) in this regard.
“All the farmers here possess around one acre each and they have been enjoying for five decades, after inheriting from forefathers. Now the government wants to resume the land in the name of land pooling. As the government promised three acres of land to Dalits and we are all from that community, we want the government to issue pattas to us. This is a genuine demand,” said a farmer who had participated in the agitation.
However, it was informed that about 30% of the land here was illegally occupied by some persons for the past several years without government assignment. All of them want to retain the land as land costs have skyrocketed. The land rate is anywhere above ₹1 crore per acre if it was close to the highway.
