Date:21/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/21/stories/2008092154830600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

White paper sought on coastal corridor

Staff Reporter

Kakinada: Senior TDP leader and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Yanamala Ramakrishnudu demanded that the State Government should submit a ‘white paper’ on the coastal industrial corridor project for which 4,50,000 acres of land has been reportedly acquired as against the total requirement of 6,00,000 acres. If the government’s role would be confined to laying of roads in the ‘corridor’, as Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao has stated, what is the necessity behind acquiring so many acres (just for roads), he questioned.

Compensation

Speaking to reporters at the party office here on Saturday, Ramakrishnudu said the government could ensure speedy development by first improving the road network instead of making outright purchase of lands in the name of coastal corridor project which includes the Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada. He also alleged that the government officials concerned were creating records showing details of lands acquired without even consulting the owners.

‘Arbitrary action’

Wherever the government’s actions were questioned, pressure was exerted on the people to vacate the lands after taking the compensation amounts which are also arbitrarily fixed.

It is not only the land owners but also MLAs who are kept in the dark about the entire episode of acquiring land for the coastal corridor and Special Economic Zones. The government is therefore duty-bound to reveal the facts, lest it should incur the wrath of people.