FATHER'S SUCCOUR: Mudragada offering a glass of juice to his son Balu, who was also on fast for three days.

Kakinada: The State Government on Thursday gave conditional acceptance of Mudragada Padmanabham's major demand of providing alternative land to farmers in lieu of the land being acquired for Polavaram canal in 14 villages.

It, however, made it clear that it would not resort to forcible land acquisition for the sake of allotting alternative land.

Collector's letter

In a letter signed by East Godavari Collector Anil Kumar Singhal and addressed to the fasting leader, it was made clear that if farmers come forward to sell their land at the rates for which the Government offered consent awards, the same would be provided as alternative land to the displaced farmers.

Stating that some public representatives, including MLAs - Thota Gopalakrishna, Thota Narasimham and Chitturi Ravindra - brought to his notice that some farmers had handed over pattadar passbooks and title deeds giving their consent to sell away their lands at the rates offered by the Government, the Collector said that the same would be provided as alternative lands.

The Collector said that since it did not entail any forcible acquisition, it was acceptable to the Government. The Collector further said that some more farmers might be willing to part with their lands in a similar manner and such lands would be purchased and given as alternative lands. The Collector conveyed this to Telugu Desam leaders who called on him at his camp office to request him to personally convey the Government's decision to Mr. Padmanabham and make him call off the fast.

TDP leaders, including Jyothula Nehru, district TDP chief, Vanga Geeta, MP, Metla Satyanarayana Rao, Chikkala Ramachandra Rao and Gorantla Buchaiah Choudary, former Ministers, ZP Chairman Dunna Janardhana Rao agreed to the conditional acceptance.

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