Farmers offer 33,000 acre land for Andhra capital at Amravati

Farmers have "voluntarily offered" about 90 per cent of the 38,581 acre land required for Andhra Pradesh's new capital at Amravati under the pooling system, a state government official said.

The central government think tank NITI Aayog has lauded the 'land pooling' method as a "model to the nation" in land acquisition.

"Farmers have voluntarily offered 32,637.48 acre (89 per cent) of the targeted 38,581.15 acres of land for the new capital. The work is in full swing," T Srinivasa Rao, OSD to CM (Media Advisor) said.

Rao said the Land Pooling Scheme (LPS), evolved by the state, is the assembling of small land parcels under different ownerships voluntarily into a large land parcel.

Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority (APCRDA), formulated for planning, co-ordination, execution and promoting and securing the planned development of the capital region, ensures return of reconstituted land and payment of benefits to the land owners per every acre voluntarily handed over, he said.

Elaborating, he said for every acre of patta land 1,000 sq yards of residential plots and 450 sq yards of commercial plots for semi urban lands will be returned to land owners.

Likewise, he added, "For dry land, 1,000 square yards of residential plot and 250 square yards of commercial plots will be returned for every acre."

Rao said besides these, per acre annuity for crop loss will be paid at Rs 30,000 for dry and Rs 50,000 for semi urban lands for a period of 10 years.

The benefits include one time additional payment of up to Rs 1 lakh for gardens like lime, sapota, guava, amla and jasmine and up to Rs 1.50 lakh agriculture loan waiver for each family.

Providing details of the infrastructure work, the official said the first ever construction work for seat of administration has been started in the capital city area near village 'Velagapudi' and the project includes government complexes on 45 acres including Chief Minister's office. Five buildings, he said have been completed in seven months with a capacity to accommodate 500 staff.