Land owners in the Amaravati region are still doing the rounds the office of the Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) as the issue of allotting the extended village boundaries (‘grama kantams’) has not been resolved. They were common spaces and were used as cattle sheds and tobacco barns and land owners had resisted the moves of the CRDA to include them in the land pooling exercise.
The CRDA, which has completed pooling of lands in the 29 villages, had promised the land owners that they would resolve the contentious issue of allotting the sites. But after four years a controversy has erupted, with the land owners accusing the CRDA of favouring a few.
On August 26, 2015, the land owners met Civil Supplies Minister Prathipati Pulla Rao at the CRDA office in Thullur and demanded that he intervene but even after CRDA Commissioner Cherukuri Sreedhar toured the villages, the CRDA could not come to any conclusion.
Plea to CM
On Monday, residents of Nekkallu met Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu at the grievance hall in Undavalli and narrated their plight. The CM directed the CRDA to look into the issue.
“We have been asking the CRDA to exempt the common spaces in our villages which come to about 15 acres which means each land owner gets about 10 cents, but no action has been taken,’’ said Jonnalagadda Tirupatha Rao from Nekkallu.
The land owners are citing the allotment of common spaces in other villages. For instance, there are 97 land owners who have been exempted 20 cents each, 46 land owners in Rayapudi have been exempted 20 cents, and 41 in Nelapadu.
Amid allegations and counter-allegations, the CRDA is finding it difficult to resolve issues relating to ‘grama kantams’ and ‘lanka’ lands.