Ryots oppose land acquisition for coach depot at Nidamanuru

Ryots oppose land acquisition for coach depot at Nidamanuru
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Highlights

Even as Krishna district administration is gearing up to issue a notification for land acquisition in a day or two, the farmers in Nidamanuru village near here are up in arms against the government for eyeing their locality for building a coach depot for the upcoming Metro Rail.

Vijayawada: Even as Krishna district administration is gearing up to issue a notification for land acquisition in a day or two, the farmers in Nidamanuru village near here are up in arms against the government for eyeing their locality for building a coach depot for the upcoming Metro Rail.

According to sources in Amaravati Metro Rail Corporation (AMRC), two corridors are coming up under Metro Rail project for which tenders were called and works were assigned. While one corridor connects Pandit Nehru Bus Station (PNBS) and Penamaluru, the other would be laid from PNBS to Nidamanuru.

The first corridor will have 12 stations and the latter will have 13 stations. Works relating to the corridors might begin soon and would take four years for completion. According to official estimates, the rail project in the two corridors requires 75 acres, which includes 15 acres within the city on Bandar road and Eluru road for construction of stations.

In addition to the two corridors, a coach depot requires 60 acres of land. The officials planned the depot at Nidamanuru village which is nearer to airport. As usual, Sub-Collector level officials convened meetings with the villagers, but in vain. The villagers gave no room for acquisition and were clear in conveying their opposition for the coach depot. They cited pollution and other reasons also to make their case strong.

The issue remained untouched by the administration until Babu A was replaced with new Collector B Lakshmi Kantham.
In less than a fortnight, the new Collector reviewed the project twice and directed the officials to speed up the Metro Rail. Sources said that he may issue a notification for land acquisition in a few days.

In this backdrop, the Nidamanuru Farmers’ Welfare Association which is fighting against the Metro Rail from the beginning conveyed the anti-land acquisition mood of the farmers to people’s representatives also. Association treasurer Nancharaiah told The Hans India that the farmers recently resolved to fight for their lands.

“If the administration marches ahead against our sentiments, we will approach court. We are not going to allow use of our lands for Metro Rail,” he said. He further said that under Land Acquisition Act, 2013, the administration needs approval of 80 per cent of the farmers to acquire land. So there was no room for acquisition, he added.

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