Ruling party legislator fumes at forest wing for interference in APIIC land
NELLORE: Nellore rural legislator Kotamreddy Sridhar Reddy came down heavily on forest department officials for claiming rights over 500 acres of land acquired by the APIIC, after paying Rs 60 crore compensation to farmers for industrial development near Amamcharla village in the Nellore rural segment before 2019.
Expressing anguish over the stance of the forest department, he urged industries minister Gudivada Amarnath and agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy to intervene and restore the land to APIIC.
Sridhar Reddy was addressing a gathering after the two ministers inaugurated newly developed roads and drains at Auto Nagar here on Thursday.
He pulled up the forest officials for keeping quiet when the land acquisition process was in progress and creating trouble now while pointing to the removal of a board of APIIC from the site.
The legislator claimed that revenue officials, including the collector, made it clear that the forest wing had no rights over the land during a meeting held to sort out the issue in the presence of all department officials and then industries minister Mekapati Goutham Reddy.
"Every constituency is forging ahead in industrial development except the Nellore rural segment, though there are thousands of unemployed and the only opportunity for industrialisation is being hindered by the forest department," Sridhar Reddy alleged.
Referring to 15000 people employed in Auto Nagar, located on 100 acres of land, he said that five times more employment is possible if the objections were cleared for the 500 acres.
According to Sridhar Reddy, minister Amarnath had a meeting with the collector, joint collector, tahsildar, APIIC, and forest officials on the land issue soon after the programme at Auto Nagar.
"The minister said that he would speak to senior forest officials in Amaravati tomorrow to resolve the issue and if necessary, place it in the next cabinet meeting for approval," Sridhar Reddy said.
Agriculture minister Kakani Govardhan Reddy, and Udayagiri legislator Mekapati Chandrasekhar Reddy were also present with Amarnath.
