VIJAYAWADA: The agricultural fields of Rayapudi village, located on the right bank of river Krishna, remain green for nearly 345 days a year. Farmers grow as many as 47 varieties of crops, including vegetables, paddy, sugarcane, papaya, citrus fruits and banana, thanks to the perennial availability of water. It takes only 20 days of keeping the land fallow for it to be re-energised for tilling purposes. No wonder then, that the farmers here are harbouring resentment against the government for listing their village for land pooling for the development of the new capital city.
Interestingly, most farmers are ardent followers of ruling Telugu Desam Party, but are irked with chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for proposing to take over their lands. And they are not alone in their anger. Famers from other riverbank villages such as Uddandarayunipalem, Malkapuram, Mandadam and Tallayapalem are all agitated over the government's move.
Their main contention is that they cultivate crops for more than 11 months a year and a payment of Rs 25,000 as compensation per acre is very meagre. "We earn not less than Rs 1 lakh even on lease as most of the lands are fertile and yield good production," said Puvvada Ganesh, a farmer.
What also seems to be fuelling their anger is the government's inability to realize its loan waiver promise. "How can anyone believe the government's words after it failed to implement the loan waiver scheme? How can the chief minister generate revenue to develop our lands when he cannot do so for loan waiver," wondered local TDP strongman Mallela Harindranath Chowdary.
He added that considering the past experiences of other states, there was no chance of the Centre extending a huge financial package to the state. "Naidu has done little to enhance his image at the Centre and even failed to convince the RBI to implement the loan waiver," he said.
Farmers of these villages have now decided to fight for their lands, even if it means approaching the courts. They argue that they never wanted the capital city to come up in their neighbourhood and are quite happy with agriculture.
Interestingly, most farmers are ardent followers of ruling Telugu Desam Party, but are irked with chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for proposing to take over their lands. And they are not alone in their anger. Famers from other riverbank villages such as Uddandarayunipalem, Malkapuram, Mandadam and Tallayapalem are all agitated over the government's move.
Their main contention is that they cultivate crops for more than 11 months a year and a payment of Rs 25,000 as compensation per acre is very meagre. "We earn not less than Rs 1 lakh even on lease as most of the lands are fertile and yield good production," said Puvvada Ganesh, a farmer.
What also seems to be fuelling their anger is the government's inability to realize its loan waiver promise. "How can anyone believe the government's words after it failed to implement the loan waiver scheme? How can the chief minister generate revenue to develop our lands when he cannot do so for loan waiver," wondered local TDP strongman Mallela Harindranath Chowdary.
He added that considering the past experiences of other states, there was no chance of the Centre extending a huge financial package to the state. "Naidu has done little to enhance his image at the Centre and even failed to convince the RBI to implement the loan waiver," he said.
Farmers of these villages have now decided to fight for their lands, even if it means approaching the courts. They argue that they never wanted the capital city to come up in their neighbourhood and are quite happy with agriculture.
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