Farmers sell land they gave Lepakshi Knowledge Centre

Anantapur: Real estate boom has given a  new twist to scam-hit Lepakshi Knowledge Centre land in Anantapur district. Farmers, who had given away their land  for the city and are yet to  receive compensation from the APIIC or the Lepakshi Knowledge Centre,  have been selling the land following  a High Court order. The land sales have increased legal complications, which is likely to affect the government’s move to set up industries.

Almost  900 acres of land with pattas,  issued  between 1926-1954, have yet to receive compensation. It may be recalled that the Industries and Commerce Department entered  a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with Lepakshi Knowledge Hub Private Limited in December, 2008 and extended certain incentives. Lepakshi was supposed to invest Rs 8,000- Rs10,000 crore over   5-10 years  and generate employment for around 1.5 lakh youths.

The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) handed over  8,844.01 acres on NH-44 close to Devanahalli International Airport to Lepakshi in 2009 in the first phase, as against total of 12,000 acres in two phases. But, Lepakshi authorities failed to set up  industries. Instead, the land was used to raise a loan  of Rs 920 crore, which was   diverted to a company called Indu Projects Limited.

The government has now decided to take back the lands, but  legal wrangles prove to be major hurdles. The  farmers, who were not compensated, moved court and got  orders  to sell their land to realtors. While the  other farmers sold at Rs 1.75 lakh per acre,  those who had not received compensation, are now selling  at Rs 6 lakh per acre. Narayana Reddy and Sreerami Reddy, farmers from Yagnasettipalli said the government should ensure farmers  get an attractive package. Recently,  Chilamatur sub-registrar Gopal Krishna was caught red-handed by  the ACB while accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 to register 48 acres of such land a  week ago. Anantapur registrations DIG  Abraham said, he was personally verifying the registrations to curb registration of government lands. An APIIC senior official said they were planning to re-acquire at least 4000 acre from Lepakshi Hub, leaving 4,731 acre of controversial land linked with legal issue.