Vanpic: Farmers on the attack
Farmers are planning to intensify their agitation to get back their lands unconditionally from the Vodarevu and Nizampatnam Ports Industrial Corridor (Vanpic) project, which includes a port at Motupalli, an airport at Beeramgunta, and shipping harbour at Vodarevu.
The Congress government led by the late Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy had issued a government order allowing Vanpic to acquire lands from farmers. Vanpic planned to acquire 13,000 acres in Guntur district and 15,000 acres in Prakasam.
Farmers were reluctant to part with their land but were persuaded to do so and Vanpic reportedly acquired nearly 10,000 acres in Prakasam, mostly along the coast from Vodarevu to Kothapatnam mandal.
However, no work was started on the acquired land and the CPI, CPM, Telugu Desam and other political parties raised queries about the land acquisition. The CBI conducted an enquiry that found that very meagre payments, of Rs.80,000 to Rs.90,000 per acre were made to the farmers, though the recorded amounts were Rs.2 lakh to Rs.2.50 lakh per acre.
The minister for rural development, Mr Dokka Manikya Varaprasad Rao occupied Vanpic land at Allur on June 4 under Yeruvaka programme. The police did not register a case against him or his associates, which boosted the morale of the agitating farmers.
Political parties led farmers to occupy the Vanpic land in several areas. Farmers P. Kripakar, and K. Devulaiah of Peddagan-jam claimed that according to the land acquisition act, if acquired lands were not used for the acquired purpose within the scheduled time, the acquired lands should be returned to the original landowners, and hence the acquisition is illegal.
The Vanpic Vyatireka Porata Committee is going to start a website to bring the victims’ plight to the notice of the world, committee convener, P. Sankar told this newspaper over the telephone.
AP Vyavasaya Karmika Sangham and other left-wing organisations held an internal meeting at Ongole on Wednesday and decided to start sowing work on the Vanpic lands in this kharif season, said Sangham district secretary, Mr Pentyala Hanumantha Rao.
The district superintendent of police, Mr K. Raghuram Reddy said that Vanpic has not asked for any protection for their land but has lodged two complaints against encroachment.
Interestingly, despite having the support of several political parties and organisations, a majority of the farmers are reluctant to start cultivating the Vanpic land because it is mostly sandy and not good for agriculture, but only for salt, prawn and fish farming, which is comparatively expensive. Hence encroachment on Vanpic-held land is occurring in only a few areas.
