Land pooling may not succeed in Krishna district

Vijayawada: Farmers of Ibrahimpatnam and Kanchikacharla mandals in Krishna district are unlikely to give their valuable lands to the government under land pooling because the land prices will shoot up in near future with construction of Kuchipudi Iconic bridge, which will connect these mandals to the capital city of Amaravati.

It may be noted that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday appealed to the farmers to give their lands to the government for developing the area on par with the capital Amaravati.

He said the farmers of Amaravati region gave 33,000 acre to the government under land-pooling scheme and subsequently, the government had taken up developmental works worth Rs 40,000 crore in the core capital area and other places.

Land prices in Ibrahimpatnam and  Kanchikacharla mandals increased drastically in 2014 when the state government considered Vaikuntapuram and Amaravati in Guntur district as one of the suitable locations for construction of capital.

People of Ibrahimpatnam and Kanchikacharla mandals in Krishna district rejoiced with the announcement made in 2014 that the new capital would come on the other side of the river at Amaravati. 

Subsequently, the prices of land in the two mandals have increased enormously with realtors investing crores of rupees on lands in Ibrahimpatnam and Kanchikacharla mandals. Many thousand acres of agriculture land was converted into realty ventures.  But, the government had changed the capital location from Amaravati to Thullur. As a result, the realty business crashed in these two mandals and has not recovered since then.

Now, after a gap of four years, the Chief Minister had announced that the government was ready for the land-pooling in Krishna district too. But, farmers are unwilling to give their lands because the prices are already very high. 

K Nagaraju, a farmer in Paritala, said land prices in Ibrahimpatnam and Kanchikacharla mandals may increase further in near future with the construction of Kuchipudi Iconic bridge. He said the Ibrahimpatnam will be developed as the important tri-junction and a connecting point to capital Amaravati, Hyderabad and Vijayawada city.

Ibrahimpatnam mandal is well known for small-scale industries, thermal station, International Cricket stadium and historical Kondapalli fort. Ibrahimpatnam is gradually emerging as tourist destination as adventurous tourism is also increasing with facilities available for trekking.

Besides, many educational institutions and hospitals were built in the mandal. In this backdrop, there is scope for the further development of Ibrahimpatnam mandal. So, the farmers are reluctant to part with their lands under land-pooling.

The government is insisting that the Iconic bridge would be completed at any cost in less than 20 months. Once the bridge is completed, the land prices may shoot up further and enrich the farmers more.