Hyderabad: The entire Tullur mandal and parts of several riverfront mandals in the Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri Urban Development area with round-the-year crop yielding agriculture fields are set to be wiped off the state map to make way for buildings for the new capital.
Tullur mandal, with 21 revenue villages and a total extent of 195.34 square kilometres and parts of Mangalagiri, Tadikonda and a few villages of Amaravati and Tadepalli in Guntur district will be for administrative township and Ibrahimpatnam parts of Kanchikacherla and Gollapudi of Vijayawada rural mandal are to be part of a residential zone.
The entire stretch is fertile land and an active farming area. Fearing backlash from the locals, officials listed the river front villages’ gram sabhas for the last day of Janmabhoomi.
Tullur mandal parishad development officer Balu Nayak said “In all these villages like Rayapudi, Velagapadui, Malkapuram, Pedaparimi, Nekallau, Mandadam, Nelapadu and Shakamuru, gramsabhas scheduled from October 10 to 16. Those on the river front have been alloted the last days for convenience sake.”
Meanwhile, the Water Users Associations, which are highly politicised in Guntur and Krishna district, have begun collecting copies of Aadhar cards and pattadar passbooks from farmers in Tullur mandal and adjoining areas to ascertain ownership. Sources in the revenue department said, excluding the Kondaveedu Vagu flooding area, it is now proposed to convince farmers.
Farmers say the land rates in villages like Vekatapalem, nearer to Vijayawada and those lands near river front and NH9 and NH5, were selling at Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2 crore much before the announcement of the capital.
Telugu Desam leader and Farmers Association activist Bellamkonda Narasimha Rao said, “It is true that land rates in several areas that are far from river front and National Highway like in Pedaparimi and Tadikonda and other areas have increased after announcement of the capital. They were sold at around Rs 10 lakh earlier and now prices have gone up to Rs 1 crore. But the villages that are closer to Vijayawada and to NH 5 have been selling for more than Rs 1 crore for the past few years.”
Meanwhile the fate of the swanky guest houses owned by prominent persons and spiritual centres on the Krishna river bed is not yet known. There are several ashrams on the river bed and private guest houses owned by companies and individuals in Tullur, and Tadepalli mandals.
