The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : HUDA accused of cheating Kokapet village farmers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Aug 13, 2006

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

HUDA accused of cheating Kokapet village farmers

Special Correspondent

City legislators to take up issue with YSR

REALTY ISSUES: City legislators led by M. Shashidhar Reddy and P. Janardhan Reddy interacting with farmers on the controversial agricultural land at Kokatpet in Gachibowli, Hyderabad on Saturday. - Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

HYDERABAD: Accusing the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority of colluding with the rich and powerful and snatching away land from poor farmers of Kokapet village on the city outskirts, the Khairatabad MLA and National Disaster Management Agency Chairperson M. Shashidhar Reddy said the issue would be taken up with Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, besides `discussing it threadbare within the Congress party'.

Mr. Shashidhar Reddy and a team of city legislators who paid a visit to Kokapet on Saturday demanded justice to farmers who were `coerced and duped' in the land acquisition process. "In the name of land acquisition, HUDA has snatched away the very livelihood of farmers," they alleged.

They pointed out that the wealthy, including politicians and film personalities, were let away while small farmers with an acre or two were targeted.

Steady stream

"Till the auctioning, there was a steady stream of officials breathing down our necks. Now, there is no sight of them. They just want to wash their hands off the issue by giving us a piece of land in the village for housing purposes. But what is the use of a roof over the head when our very livelihood is taken away," asked septuagenarian Musalaiah, even as women showed the visitors sheaves of leafy vegetables that they had grown in the fields. "We are nothing without farming," was their unanimous appeal.

As part of its Golden Mile project, the HUDA zeroed in on over 100 acres at Kokapet, just 3 km away from Microsoft and ISB, marketing it as a futuristic destination.

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