Desaraju Surya
AMARAVATI: The Jana Sena, a key partner in the ruling National Democratic Alliance government in Andhra Pradesh, has effectively blocked Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s grandiose plans to “pool” about 27,000 acres of (private) land in the name of “Amaravati Capital Region” development.
Interestingly, Chandrababu Naidu’s son and Minister Nara Lokesh endorsed Jana Sena Minister Nadendla Manohar’s stand against the proposed land pooling even as Deputy Chief Minister K Pawan Kalyan sought to play it safe by neither opposing nor fully supporting the controversial move.
The other partner in the government, the Bharatiya Janata Party, did not take a clear stand on the vexatious subject though the lone minister from the party seemed to have concurred with the “majority view” against the new land pooling.
“People are totally opposed to the new land pooling. There is a lot of concern among them over the government move,” the state Cabinet, barring the Chief Minister and Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana, maintained.
This left the Chief Minister rather red-faced, who could not conceal his displeasure over the blockade to his dream plans.
The Andhra Pradesh Council of Ministers that met here on July 9 was supposed to approve a proposal “authorising the Commissioner, AP Capital Region Development Authority, to initiate Land Pooling Scheme within the Capital Region” under the relevant law.
The Council of Ministers, at its meeting last month, approved the guidelines for the Land Pooling Scheme-2025 for the Amaravati Capital Region.
Today’s meeting, however, witnessed a serious and rather hot discussion for about one and a half hour when the actual LPS proposal came up for discussion.
Manohar spoke at length on the issue and categorically opposed the move to once again take away land from farmers in the name of development.
His party boss, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, apparently sought to support the LPS 2.0 move but “expressed concern” over the exercise as it would cause a “negative public perception”.
Kalyan also noted that “people are unhappy” that “nothing happened” in the last ten years in Amaravati, where over 35,000 acres of land was pooled in the name of Capital City development.
“A wrong narrative is building on this,” the Jana Sena leaders noted.
Lokesh concurred with the views expressed by Manohar in particular.
“We need some more time to build a positive narrative,” Lokesh observed.
In the end, the Cabinet did not approve the proposal for fresh land pooling though the Chief Minister warned that putting it off would send a wrong message that “we are backing away”.
However, the Cabinet eventually decided to entrust the task of “studying the issue in detail” to the Group of Ministers, led by Municipal Administration Minister P Narayana, that is currently engaged in allotment of land to various entities in Amaravati Capital City.
The state government has identified a total of 34,964 acres of land in 13 villages under three mandals in the so-called Amaravati Capital Region, that is outside the 217- sq. km. Capital City.
Of the total, only 5,207.42 acres is government and 26,369.5 acres is private patta land.
In the first leg of LPS 2.0, the government planned to pool about 20,000 acres in six villages.
Now, this remains largely uncertain and also unlikely.