₹ 28 cr. compensation amount released

Finally, the farmers of eight villages in Medak district got relief as the government released an amount of ₹ 28 crore, to be disbursed to them shortly.

A report was published in these columns on Sunday about farmers waiting for the past two years due to delay in payments.

The government planned to acquire as much as 606.11 acres in eight villages of three mandals — Dantanpally and Kontanpally (Shivampet mandal), Reddypally, Chinnachintakunta, Manthoor, Tujalpur, Khajipet (Narsapur mandal) and Venakatapur in Kowdipally mandal. The government offered an amount of ₹ 7.5 lakh per acre for patta land and ₹ 5.5 lakh for assigned land, meant for digging canals to supply Godavari water from Kaleshwaram to Anantagiri, Mallannasagar and this area in Medak district. Though initial discussions were held in 2016, farmers consented to sell their lands to the government under Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement – 2016 (Telangana Amendment) Act in November 2017. However, after identifying the land required for digging canals, officials advised the farmers not to sow crops, thereby keeping the land uncultivated for more than a year.

The farmers made repeated appeals and even held dharnas demanding payment of compensation.

The issue came up for discussion at the general body meeting of the Zilla Parishad held here on Monday.

Responding to this, Medak Collector K. Dharma Reddy said that an amount of ₹ 28 crore was released as compensation for land acquired.