Farmers say 'no' to land pooling

Warangal: The farmers belonging to 21 villages adjacent to Warangal led by joint action committee (JAC) staged a protest at Arepally village on Tuesday, demanding the government to withdraw the notification issued by the Kakatiya Urban Development Authority (KUDA) for procuring land for the construction of outer ring road under the Land Pooling Scheme (Assemblage, Formulation and Implementation) to facilitate planned development in the areas of KUDA urban agglomeration.

Since the notification was issued a week ago, hundreds of farmers have taken to streets, urging the authorities to save their lands. The farmers have already submitted memorandums to Warangal district collector B Gopi and KUDA Vice-Chairperson P Pravinya. The farmers allege that there was none to listen to their petition.

Against this backdrop, farmers staged Rythu Deeksha on Tuesday. The JAC convener Budde Peddanna accused the government of suppressing their agitation. He criticised the police for apprehending Teenmar Mallanna at Jangaon who was on his way to Rythu Deeksha to extend his support.

"We will not give our fertile lands to Land Pooling. The government should repeal the GO MS No. 80 or else we will intensify our agitation. It's not proper for the government to snatch lands of farmers and use them for real estate business. If the government is bankrupt, all the farmers will beg and support the exchequer. No one has the right to snatch our lands inherited from our ancestors," Peddanna said.

Kakatiya University JAC chairman Ittaboina Tirupati, Rajani Kumar and N Kumaraswamy were among others present.