B. Gopal Reddy is considered a big landlord in the village and villagers call him Patel. His family owns 46.5 acres land on the outskirts of the village. This is one of the villages from which the State government has acquired land for the establishment of National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ). The land acquisition was completed in 2016-2017 except for a few land parcels.
Many of the farmers, enjoying government assigned and lavan patta lands, have sold their lands to the government. The reason being that as it was assigned lands they could not sell it to others and hence any price offered by the government was good for them. Most of the patta land owners also sold their lands to the government for a price of ₹ 5.65 lakh.
“We were forced to sell our lands to NIMZ though we were not willing. At the time of acquiring these lands under GO 123, the officials threatened us with dire consequences and warned that the lands would be taken by using police force if necessary. There was no option left to us except bowing down to their whip,” said Syad Amzad, one of the oustees from the village. He is one among those who approached the court seeking justice.
“Why should we sell our lands to the government which is acquiring lands from us for peanuts and selling it to industrialists at a higher price? How can government become a broker between farmers and industrialists?” asked Mr. Gopal Reddy, who says that his land is in area that is expected to be allocated to Tritan, the electric vehicles (EV) manufacturing giant from United States.
“It is totally my wish to sell or not to sell our land. Let the industrialists come to us and then we opt for a better bargain. We have already approached the court,” he told The Hindu.
The villagers said that those who sold their lands to the government have received ₹ 5.65 lakh per acre in the first instance, then it was hiked to ₹7.1 lakh per acre and now the government is offering ₹ 9.1 lakh per acre.
While the government registration price here continues to be ₹ 1.5 lakh per acre the open market price is stated to be more than ₹ 30 lakh per acre.
