Vizianagaram: Farmers oppose Vizag-Raipur road

Vizianagaram: The farmers of S Kota and Gantyada on Thursday opposed the proposed highway road to be laid from Visakhapatnam to Raipur of Chhattisgarh. The farmers stated that the road would ruin their livelihood as they lose their valuable fertile lands. The proposed road would travel 94.29 kilometres in the district and pass through 51 villages and 38 Grama panchayats. The road is aimed to ease the traffic congestion between Visakhapatnam and Raipur. On Thursday, the government conducted a public hearing on this project and invited the farmers to express their views at the Collector's office. The farmers from Gantyada and S Kota stated that they would lose their lands and livelihood too. They appealed to the government to change the route map and exclude their lands. M Ganapathi Rao, district revenue officer, who presided the programme, stated that the proposed road would be a boon for the villagers.

The road needs 643 hectares of land in the district but around 166 hectares of government land is available in the proposed road map and 432 hectares of private land to be acquired and 45 acres of forest land will also be acquired. The road consisting 17 main bridges on rivers like Gosthani, Suvarnamukhi and 30 small bridges 25 railway over bridges, 13 under passes beneath railway track to be constructed. The total expenditure of the project is around Rs 2,547 crore and around Rs 220 crore would be spent for land acquisition and rehabilitation for displaced public. Around 10,387 trees to be cut and 31,000 trees to be planted on both sides of roads to compensate the demolished trees. K Paidithalli, a farmer of Gantyada mandal stated, "I am going to lose my 75 cents of land in the mandal. If I lose the land, how can I survive and feed my family. I am appealing to the government to divert the road from some other way."