Telangana Congress asks President Mukherjee to save state farmers

Hyderabad: The TPCC on  Wednesday sought President Pranab Mukherjee’s intervention to save farmers from forcible acquisition of their lands for Mallannasagar and other projects by the TS government and to ensure that they get fair compensation as  per the Centre’s Land Acquisition Act, 2013.

Accusing the TS government of acquiring lakhs of acres for irrigation, industrial projects, thermal power projects etc besides mishandling and manipulating the acquisition process jacking up project costs and indulging in financial misappropriation, a T-Congress delegation led by TPCC president N. Uttam Kumar Reddy met the President at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum.

Leaders of the Opposition K. Jana Reddy and Mohd. Ali Shabbir, TPCC working president Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, TPCC former president Ponnala Lakshmaiah, MP Palvai Godvardhan Reddy,  former Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha and others were part of the team.

The Congress submitted a three-point request to the President on behalf of affected farmers: The TPCC also wanted immediate lifting of Section 144 in the project affected villages and the false cases filed against the villagers withdrawn; and also restoration of spirit of democracy and freedom in the project affected villages.

“We look forward for you to do justice to the farmers, land tenants, agriculture labour, artisans etc of Telangana and also curb the malpractices of  the state government,” the memorandum said.