Social activist and former IAS officer E.A.S. Sarma has strongly opposed the move to sell away the valuable land near Beach Road taken over from LuLu Group after allotting it for construction of an international convention centre.
In a letter to Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney, he said he thought that the new government had taken the correct decision when it cancelled the questionable LuLu land deal in Visakhapatnam.
The TDP government had allotted the land in question to Abu Dhabi-based LuLu Group for construction of an international convention centre, five-star hotel and a multiplex. The allotment was cancelled after change in government in the State.
“I was surprised that the government has since issued GO Ms. No. 172 (Revenue) dated June 12, 2020 in which the same public land measuring 13.83 acres near the R.K. Beach is now proposed to be ‘monetised’ through an auction process, along with several other large land parcels in Visakhapatnam and elsewhere in the State,” he stated.
Mr. Sarma said the decision to sell such valuable urban land stretches was highly imprudent, as he had pointed out earlier in his letter on May 27 last.
In the letter he had pointed out that selling public lands for raising resources was a soft option that would provide an alibi to the present government for not taking other measures to minimise unproductive and wasteful expenditure and raise resources through more innovative means from those who could afford to provide such resources.