The Hindu, Oct 27 2015, Kurnool: Residents of Sakunala village in Orvakal mandal staged a dharna under the leadership of Communist parties and other Opposition parties in front of the Kurnool Collectorate on Monday demanding disbursal of compensation of Rs. 10 lakh per acre to farmers for 2,422 acres of land being acquired for the solar power plant in Sakunala village in Orvakal mandal.
YSR Congress MLA Gouru Charitha Reddy alleged that farmers who were cultivating lands in Sakunala village for several decades were neither issued pattas nor their names upoaded in revenue records, but the names of middlemen of Vijayawada, Guntur and other districts were included in the beneficiary list for disbursal of compensation. Though industries need to be set up, acquiring fertile lands for the units was unwarranted, she asserted. The villagers, women and their children who took part in the protest demanded compensation for their land and jobs for the displaced in industrial units.
CPI(M) State Committee leader T. Shadrak and district secretary K. Prabhakar Reddy asserted that farmers holding pattas as well as non-pattadars cultivating lands should be paid uniform compensation, amounting to four times the market rates, as per the Land Acquisition Act 2013. Boya Madduleti, a young farmer of Sakunala, who committed suicide after his land was taken over without paying compensation, must be granted ex-gratia of Rs. 10 lakh, they demanded.
The displaced families were not provided jobs as promised in Jindal cement factory at Gadivemula, Power Grid at Orvakal and Jayajyothi cement factory at Yenakandla, despite promises, they recalled. They demanded compensation paid for lands, houses and trees and shareholding in the industry for the displaced. CPI(M) would organise a land struggle at Vijayawada on October 30, they said. CPI leaders P. Jagannatham and Nageswara Rao accused Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of being anti-poor and said the lands of small and marginal farmers were taken over but compensation was not paid. Sakunala villagers were obstructing commencement of work on the solar power plant without paying compensation, he said.
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