New AP Capital: Land Acquisition Package Announced

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Monday announced the compensation package for the lands to be acquired for the State's new capital in the Vijayawada-Guntur region.

The State Government has classified the lands into two broad categories - cultivable and non-cultivable. In the cultivable category, for patta lands, Rs 1,000 per acre will be paid for residential lands, and Rs 200 for commercial lands; and for assigned lands, it will be Rs 800 per acre for residential lands and Rs 100 for commercial lands.

Under the non-cultivable lands category, for patta lands the compensation will be Rs 1,000 per acre for residential lands and Rs 300 for commercial lands; and for assigned lands, it will be Rs 800 per acre for residential lands and Rs 200 for commercial lands.

Addressing a press conference, the Chief Minister announced that the land acquisition process for the new capital would begin on Tuesday.

He also announced several sops for those whose lands were being acquired. He said that the government would issue a Land Pooling Ownership Certificate (LPOC) to all the farmers. He also announced that crop loans for 22,405 farmers (with a ceiling of Rs 1.5 lakh per family) would be waived off. The State Government has sanctioned Rs 200 crores for the same.

The Chief Minister announced more than 25 measures that would be taken for the benefit of the farmers and others whose lands would be acquired for the new capital.

He said that almost all farmers were willing to participate in the land acquisition. However, a few farmers were being misled by the Opposition Parties.

He said that the government had taken care of all aspects related to the land acquisition process. For instance, he said, the government would be paying an additional amount of Rs 50,000 per acre to farmers who had neem, guava and sapota crops.

Naidu said that the compensation included benefits like housing, medicare, education and even interest-free loans up to Rs 25 lakhs.

He said that the Andhra Pradesh Government would construct the world's best capital city within the specified time. He said that the people had confidence in the TDP Government, and that he would develop the new capital as he had developed Hyderabad. (INN)