CRDA notices for acquiring land, buildings on Krishna banks

Amaravati: The state government reportedly issued a notification for acquiring lands along with buildings that came up along the Krishna river banks right from Vundavalli to Velagapudi in Amaravati capital region.

These properties are owned by wealthy and influential persons. Among those who reportedly received notices from the Guntur district administration included a noted naturopathic physician Manthena Satyanarayana Raju, who built a multi-storey nature cure hospital and BJP MP Gokaraju Ganga Raju, who built a swanky guest house.

However, the officials remain mum over the fate of a palatial bungalow of a city-based leading realtor Lingamaneni Ramesh, which became an official residence of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. The property owners refuse to part with their lands for the capital under the land pooling scheme.

Although they claim legal rights over the lands and buildings on the river banks and in the lanka villages of Krishna, it is a subject matter of dispute as to how these private lands surfaced in the realm of the Irrigation department. The property owners with their VIP status allegedly stalled the pooling of lands under the LPS by pressuring the government all these days.

All these structures came in violation of the River Conservancy Act. Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) Director Chennakesavulu said the left-over lands will be acquired for capital construction in a phased manner after following the due process.

The government has issued the land acquisition notification in two phases just in one week. The Revenue Department of Guntur district issued notices to land owners in the limits of Venkatapalem, Velagapdui, Malkapuram and Nelapadu villages.

As per the notification, the land owners have been given 60-day time to file their objections. In the event of no objection from the land owners, the Revenue department would conduct the survey as per the Act. But the government could not go ahead with the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS) in some of the capital villages due to political pressure.

Now the officials of the Guntur Revenue Department issued notices to Manthena Satyanarayana Raju, who had built G+5 floor building inside the Krishna flood banks. The buildings were constructed with huge expenditure some years ago by violating the River Conservancy Act.

By Patibandla Srinivas