Amaravati : Construction of Naidu’s Dream City and the Question of Land Acquisition

• Amaravati is going to be the new capital of Andhra Pradesh.
• The development of Amaravati is going on through acquisition of land from the farmers.
• The scheme developed by the Andhra Pradesh State Government for the purpose is called Land Pool Scheme.

The state of Andhra Pradesh is undergoing a major change whilst having its capital transferred from Hyderabad to Amaravati. The Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu is aiming at building his new capital city to the likes of other world class cities of Singapore, Japan and China. He wants to be the one who can give his people a better city and a better standard of living. He, along with his Ministry has envisaged a plan which would help them in acquiring land from the farmers and in building the new city, it is known as the Land Pooling Scheme. Under this scheme they have succeeded in acquiring 33,000 acres of land from over 29 villages. Thullur was the first village that was chosen to be worked on for the construction of the capital city but later the State Government altered their choice to pick Mandadam and Uddandarayunipalem villages. However, they did not neglect Thullur altogether. In fact, it was reported in The Hindu that most villagers of Thullur are now the residents of two-storied houses with vehicles of their own. Most people are enthralled with how their lives have changed with the advent of the Land Pooling Scheme of the Andhra Government.

However, the critics are of the opinion that the aforementioned scheme of the Government is just another way to deceive the people and acquire their land forcibly, under the farce of voluntary surrender of land. It was also stated by them that LPS is all but a scheme to somehow by-pass the strict rules and regulations of the Land Acquisition Act. The Leader of the Opposition Party, Y.S. Jagamohan Reddy told The Hindu, "What the government did was to take away large chunks of fertile land from farmers and pass them on to the corporate in highly questionable deals,". He accused LPS of being an idea of "land fooling" and not voluntary acquisition of land.

Indeed, there are certain parts of the city where land has been acquired from the farmers but adequate compensation has not been provided by the State Government. These farmers have no clue about what the following days would usher in for them. These fertile lands lay bare without even a structure being built on them. Therefore, the Land Pooling Scheme, even though it sounds extremely promising at first, has a number of shortcomings as well.

The real estate prices having been swooping high since the development of the city was started by Naidu. Agents recall being called by investors from Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad these days because now they want to invest in the real estate of this rising city. There is a lot going on regarding the construction plan of the city which is resulting in boosting the real estate business.

The central government led by BJP has handed the Andhra Government a solid amount and the YSR Congress have expressed their desire to contribute. Seems like, everybody wants to have a part to play in Naidu's dream project. Whether he will succeed in his endeavor or not is the big question.

-Prepared by a staff-writer at NewsGram.

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