Right from the beginning, farmers of two villages – Vundavalli and Penumaka, closer to the Chennai-Vijayawada national highway have been resisting the land acquisition by the Telugu Desam Party government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu for the construction of Amaravati.
Though the government managed to acquire more than 34,000 acres of land from farmers in several villages for Amaravati under land pooling system, it has not been able to convince the farmers of these two villages who are agitating against the move under the leadership of local MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy of YSR Congress party.
The government had to invoke Land Acquisition Act, 2013 to acquire land and offered compensation as per the norms, but farmers are not yielding and demanding high compensation as they are closer to the highway and their market value runs into several crores of rupees. Having no option, the authorities have served land acquisition notices.
Right from the beginning, it was the YSR Congress party which has been stalling the land acquisition process. Now, it appears Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan is trying to hijack the agitation from YSRC.
On Sunday, Pawan visited Vundavalli village and tried to champion the cause of farmers. Some Pawan Kalyan fans among the local farmers complained to him against the forcible land acquisition process by the government.
“We have voted for the TDP in the last elections, only because you campaigned for it. Now, you take the lead in fighting against the state government,” a farmer told him.
The Jana Sena Party chief said he would be available to them within a calling distance and was ready to fight for them.
“You continue the agitation. If the government tries to use the force, I will be the first person to face the bullet,” he said.
Pawan said the government was acquiring more land than what was required for the capital.
“No government will survive if it does injustice to the farmers. Any land acquisition should be done only with the consent of farmers. The government should give up its hunger for more land,” he said.