Nara Lokesh for right compensation to project oustees

Kurnool: TDP national general secretary Nara Lokesh on Tuesday demanded the government to pay compensation to the farmers who lost their lands for irrigation projects as per to the Land Acquisition Act, 2013.

The affected farmers of the Gajuladinne project met Lokesh during his ongoing Yuva Galam padayatra and submitted a memorandum in which they wanted the TDP to take up the issue of payment of proper compensation for them. They said that though the cost of the land in their villages is over Rs 30 lakh per acre, the state government is paying only Rs 4.2 lakh per acre for those who lost their lands for the project.

Reacting to their request, Lokesh said that the state government cannot forcibly take the lands from farmers without their consent. Even if the farmers give their consent, the compensation should be paid as per the norms, he said. Lokesh promised them that the TDP will soon write to the state government seeking payment of compensation as per the norms.

He told the farmers of Kiravadi village in Yemmiganur Assembly constituency that the Chief Minister, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, is now feeling totally insecure after his paternal uncle’s murder case has taken a serious turn and thus neglecting the farmers in the state. The TDP will certainly resolve all their issues once the party is back in power, he said.

When Puttapasam villagers informed him that they did not get the housing benefits, he said that Jagan Mohan Reddy is confining himself only to publicity. Once the TDP forms the government again the houses already constructed will be distributed to the beneficiaries and new units will be constructed to provide the benefit for others, he said. In a letter to Jagan Mohan Reddy, the TDP national general secretary demanded the government to purchase crops as promised by him earlier. “The farmers should be paid the Minimum Support Price for the produce also,” Lokesh said in the letter.