Guntur: The agriculture protection zones, proposed under the APCRDA region draft perspective plan, have generated 1,700 objections from the public who are irate at the fact that urban and residential areas are being put under such a category.
The people have sought the cancellation of their areas from agriculture zones 1, 2 and 3 and are pushing local legislators to endorse their cases. The objections against the proposal are only likely to increase as the deadline for them has been extended to February 29.
The CRDA, for its part, is committed to clearing the public’s doubts and is planning to conduct awareness meetings on the subject from February 1 to 6 in various areas of Guntur and Krishna districts.
They plan to explain that development activities would continue nevertheless according to zonal development plans. A senior CRDA official clarified that there was a difference between a ‘green zone’ and an ‘agriculture protection zone’.
A green zone did not permit any urbanization activity, but the agriculture protection zone did allow development activities. He added that only 400 objections had been submitted against the capital city’s master plan.
According to reports, the ruling Telugu Desam legislators fear damage to the party’s prospects in the future due to this proposal and have urged the CRDA to ‘cool the heat off’ the contentious subject.
Meanwhile, the locals of Tadikonda and old Amaravati, adjacent to the new capital, are alleging that the agriculture protection zones were being proposed to further increase land prices in the capital region areas.
D. Parameswara Rao, K. Raju and others said that the very term, ‘agriculture protection zone’ suggested the protection of proposed lands for only agriculture activities, and the CRDA should provide adequate clarification on the matter as also give them a Telugu version of the perspective plan for their easy comprehension.
