Decision emerges from marathon Cabinet meet; 30,000 acres identified across 17 villages. He said the 30,000 acres would be divided into six sectors and the farmers would be given 1,000 yards of fully developed land with infrastructure for every one acre they parted.

The new capital of Andhra Pradesh would come up in Guntur district with the government identifying 30,000 acres across 17 villages for building the required infrastructure for various public utilities, besides the Secretariat and the Assembly.

The issue was discussed at a marathon Cabinet meeting after which the Cabinet sub-committee on land pooling met and decided the modalities.

Briefing reporters later, Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister P. Pulla Rao said the farmers in 14 villages of Tullur and three villages of Managalgiri mandals would be convinced and a system of land pooling would be adopted for taking the land. He also announced that the Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri urban body would be abolished and a new Capital Region Development Authority would be constituted.

He said that from Friday the process of convincing farmers would start and pooling would be completed in nine months. The government would pay Rs. 25,000 per acre per year for 10 years to each farmer who parted with his land. There would be a five per cent increase every year and by the end a decade the amount would be Rs. 37,500. Nearly 20 per cent of the 30,000 acres might be government land, he added.

‘Farmers stand to gain’

He said the 30,000 acres would be divided into six sectors and the farmers would be given 1,000 yards of fully developed land with infrastructure for every one acre they parted. He said the farmers would be allotted that land through lottery system.

Replying to a question, he said the value of those lands would further increase in future and benefit the farmers. The Minister said the cooperation of farmers and people was needed to build the new capital. He said that after developing the core area, other new areas would come up on a total of 60,000 acres or one lakh acres in the new capital.

He said the Chief Minister was keen that not a single tmcft should go waste into the sea and suggested that an action plan be drawn up for creating new ayacut in that region for another three lakh acres.

Irrigation Minister Devineni Uma Maheswar Rao said the people of that region were indebted selecting the region around the Krishna for locating the capital and appealed to everyone to cooperate.

The 14 villages in Tullur mandal are: Tullur, Borupalem, Nelapadu, Nekkalu, Shakamooru, Vangadam, Malkapuram, Velagapudi, Modalingapalem, Uddandarayapalem, Lingayapalem, Rayathuri, Apparaju Palem and Dondapadu. The three villages of Managlagiri are Neerukonda, Nidamarru and Kooragallu

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Vijayawada / by Special Correspondent / Hyderabad – October 30th, 2014