Epaper
The land pooling sub-committee met up on Saturday and Chandra Babu reviewed the situation with the members.
Later, he spoke to the media people and gave his version of the problems and issues faced being faced by his government while trying to acquire land through land pooling.
Babu said that despite the best efforts of his government in the past five months, running a temporary capital was becoming a huge problem as there are many obstacles. On the occasion, Babu made it clear that it was next to impossible to run the state sitting in Hyderabad.
There are some people with vested interests who are trying to stop the process of capital development in the Guntur-Vijayawada area, said Babu. However, he reiterated that there would be no capital where there are no people and said that the same people were trying to spread false rumours among people invoking a sense of fear about the entire process.
Babu said he was pleased that the people were pro-active and were coming forward to give their donations for the new capital. Each person must give a brick at least requested Babu or called upon people to at least give money in lieu of it.
Given the many accusations against him and his cabinet colleagues, Chandra Babu said that the capital development process would immensely benefit the people in the region. But some people were trying to instigate them by spreading baseless fears. Though land acquisition would have been a most ideal solution given the seriousness of the matter, Babu pointed out that his government chose to acquire land through land pooling keeping people’s interests in mind.
Babu also promised that he would sensitize people and then go about the process. He reassured that the entire process would be mutually beneficial to the government and people, said Babu. Once again, Babu reinforced that the new capital city of Andhra Pradesh would make the future generations really proud.
But Babu shrewdly circumvented the question of actual land requirement for capital development. He said time would decide on the exact figure and he would not like to comment on it for now.
He did however say that a farm labourer who was getting Rs 100 now would be getting Rs 1000 and the farmers can make a lot of money in the coming days.
Babu also said that the farmers will become smart enough to see the big opportunities in the coming days. Right now, the very people who are slogging in rain and sun will make money sitting in AC rooms, said Babu.
He took up the responsibility of throwing up a plethora of growth opportunities for people in the region, added Babu. But while maintaining that he wanted a world-class capital city and the farmers to make money, he made it clear that the Andhra Pradesh government did not have enough funds rights now.
Promising that he would build pucca houses for people who will lose houses due to capital development, Babu once again took credit for Telangana having surplus budget. The money being made in Hyderabad alone was helping the fledgling state survive, said Babu.
