Andhra Pradesh capital to come up on riverfront in Guntur district

Hyderabad: It’s official now. The first phase of the new capital of Andhra Pradesh will come up in six-sectors of 5,000 acres each in Tullur and Mangalagiri mandals of Guntur district on the Vijayawada-Guntur stretch. The Tullur mandal will form the core capital city.

In tune with the dream of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu of building a “riverfront capital”, the Cabinet sub-committee on land pooling, headed by finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, which met here on Thursday, identified 17 villages — 14 in Tullur mandal and three in Mangalagiri of Guntur district — to build the new capital.  

Most of the villages that will form part of the AP capital are located on the banks of the river Krishna.

“These 17 villages are south of Krishna River. We have chosen these villages to set up a riverfront capital. While procuring lands, we will not disturb the houses in any village nor alter any contours of any village. We will only take agricultural and vacant lands,” said AP agriculture ninister P. Pulla Rao after the meeting. In all, six sectors government buildings and residential development will be taken up.

The sub-committee on Thursday officially declared that the first phase of ‘People’s Capital’ would come up in 30,000 acres in two mandals.

The AP government is adopting Chandigarh’s sector-wise model for development in the first phase. The government will start convincing farmers to surrender their land with immediate effect i.e. October 31, and complete land pooling in 90 days.

It will give back developed plots of 1,000 square yard per acre to farmers within nine months from the date of pooling being completed.

Interestingly there was no mention of land being planned to be taken in Krishna district for the capital city. Has Krishna district been excluded from the plan? Mr Rao said, “This is the first phase in which important government buildings like Secretariat, Assembly, government quarters among etc. will be constructed. We will give details of further land requirement in subsequent phases.”

He added that the government had decided the location of the first phase keeping in view its central location.

“There will be no partiality and lands belonging to farmers, ministers, elected representatives, politicians, industrialists and everyone in the 17 villages of two mandals will be taken. People of Guntur district are lucky that the capital is coming up in their district,” he said.

There are 21,000 farmers and landlords in 17 villages. No house will be touched and only open lands mainly agricultural will be taken.

About 20 per cent of the total 30,000 acre is government land and another 3,000 acre is assigned land.

Farmers and landowners will be given 1,000 square yards of developed plot for every acre they surrender, and it will be 750 sq. yards for those enjoying holding lands.

A special package is being planned for SCs and STs.

“Farmers will be given developed plots in the sector near their villages or the sector of their choice but through draw of lots. Even if the farmer or land owner has land in bits and pieces at more than one location, the land area will be counted in total based on which a developed plot will be given to the farmer either at one sector or different sectors as per his or her choice,” Mr Rao said.

What would be the loss in terms of agriculture production as 30,000 acre of high-yield fertile lands would be taken? Mr Rao replied: “There is no single variety but various crops such as paddy, banana, cotton, chilli etc. are grown in this area. If we are taking 30,000 acre, the government will bring another 3 lakh acre of waste land under agriculture production.”

The government will spend up to Rs 1 crore on development of each acre in the capital. Tenant farmers and agricultural labourers will be given skilled development training and provided with employment.

The government is also planning to give them stipends until they are trained and provided with employment opportunities.

The Cabinet Sub Committee stated that Rs 25,000 per annum per acre would be given to farmers and landlords for 10 years with 5 per cent increase per annum.

When told that the farmers were not happy with the amount as they were earning nearly Rs 1 lakh per annum per acre, Mr Rao said that some farmers were also earning Rs 10,000 per acre and incurring losses. “We have arrived at Rs 25,000 keeping in view the average earning,” he said.