Polavaram needs 35,852 acres of land

Hyderabad: The AP government has informed the Hyderabad High Court that it was trying to acquire 35, 852 more acres of land, while the process of acquisition for construction of the Indira Sagar (Polavaram) Multipurpose Irrigation Project was in its final phase.

The government has paid Rs 1,696.16 crore as compensation to about 34,000 land losers, it said.

The government has stated this in a status report, filed in response to a direction from the court in August last while it was dealing with a petition by social activist P. Pulla

Rao, of Polavaram village in West Godavari district.

The petitioner pleaded that the High Court direct the authorities to initiate the process of land acquisition afresh in accordance with the provisions of the Right to Fair Compen-sation and transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

The government, in its report, said that as per the plan furnished by the irrigation department, a total of 1,16,348 acres were required for the project, including for main canals, supply channels and feeder channels.

The government said it already acquired 80,496 acres — of which 75,766 acres were acquired under the old Land Acquisition Act, 1894. Some 4,730 acres was acquired under the new Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

The state government said, so far, it paid Rs 1,696.16 crore as compensation to about 34,000 land losers under the project, including Rs 990 crore to 25,100 land losers under the old Act and Rs 706 crores to 8,960 land losers under the new Act.

According to the status report, 464 acres were acquired for providing alternative house sites to the project-displaced families of West Godavari district and another 225 acres acquired for providing alternative houses to the displaced families of East Godavari district.

Construction of rehabilitation and resettlement centres with proper amenities as defined under the Act 2013, was in progress.