The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Ravirala farmers caught unawares

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 25, 2007
ePaper

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Ravirala farmers caught unawares

Special Correspondent

Pattas to land assigned by the State 30 years ago cancelled

They were driven away after the land was earmarked for Fab City
CPI leader assures to take up the issue with the Chief Minister

RAVIRALA (RANGA REDDY): A fruit orchard in Kongara Ravirala village of Maheswaram mandal has several varieties of fruit trees. But the patta for the land is cancelled by the revenue authorities as it is shown in their records as barren land. The farmers who were assigned these lands in survey No. 18 of Ravirala village in Ranga Reddy district decades ago by the Government were aghast with the notices served on them.

About 150 acres in survey no.88 and 18 were under possession of about 90 farmers who were given pattas more than 30 years ago. With several of their representations to the revenue authorities to restore their pattas only evoking ‘Make an appeal in the court’ response, the farmers for the present continue to till their lands, though their future looks uncertain.

The villagers said that the entire land in survey no.88 was acquired for the Fab City in 2004 and the land was fenced after driving away the farmers forcibly. “They were the assigned lands given to us for farming decades ago. The authorities now were refusing compensation on the ground that the lands were no longer under cultivation. How can we cultivate them when we were prevented from entering our fields for the last three years. This is grave injustice,” farmers owning 1.2 acres each complained to CPI Floor Leader Chada Venkata Reddy recently. Meanwhile, farmers again started cultivating the land as the promised Fab City project failed to take off. The CPI leader assured to take up the issue with the Chief Minister. The Government decision to cancel pattas comes across as even more strange, Mr. Reddy felt.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail