Andhra Pradesh in flux over origin of pooled capital land

Hyderabad: A controversy has cropped up regarding classification of lands in the CRDA (Capital Region Development Authority) region, leading to the revenue department locking horns with the CRDA. The AP government had claimed that it has succeeded in pooling nearly 32,000 acre for the proposed capital city of Amaravati, out of which nearly 13000 acre was forest land, in Krishna and Guntur districts.

While the government has started denotifying the lands as assigned lands, ryots and owners in about seven villages claim that their land was actually patta land. The government is now banking on revenue records of 1921 to declare the land as assigned, patta or forest, which has been criticized by all quarters.

In several villages, farmers are demanding that the government clarify the nature of the land and if necessary, give fresh documents. They have even said that the agreement process should be kept on hold till some clarity is given on this. CRDA, which is taking care of all aspects of land pooling and distribution of alternative sites and compensation cheques, has blamed the revenue department for what it calls “confusion among ryots and forcing them to rethink on agreements”.