Vijayawada: The AP government has fixed Rs 25 lakh per acre as compensation for the land to be acquired for the proposed deepwater port at Machilipatnam in Krishna district.
This would be probably the highest amount the state government has paid until now as compensation to acquire land for any project.
The government wants to acquire 2,159.25 acres of patta land in four villages — Manginipudi, Karagraharam, Tavisipudi and Gopuvanipalem in Machilipatnam for the port.
After sanctioning a margin amount to raise loans for land acquisition, the government has now finalised the compensation to be paid to the land owners. The compensation was fixed after several rounds of negotiations with the landowners.
Considering the delays in land acquisition process and limited acceptance of land pooling schemes, the vice chairperson of Machilipatnam Urban Development Authority, the implementing agency of the port, sent a report to the government with a request to constitute a committee for negotiation of rates with landholders for procurement of land under the land purchase scheme.
The government constituted a negotiations committee in May this year for negotiation of rates.
“After conducting prolonged negotiations with the landowners, the negotiation committee has recommended the rate as agreed by the farmers,” a senior official said.
