Farmers Protest Against Forceful Land Acquisition, Dump Vegetables At CRDA Office 

Amaravati: Over 30 farmers of Penumaka and Undavalli villages staged dharna on Thursday at Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) office demanding withdrawal of the land acquisition notice issued on April 11 by the Guntur district collector. The farmers from Penumaka submitted a memorandum to CRDA officials.

The agitated farmers dumped loads of vegetables in front of CRDA office as a protest. They also displayed placard with slogans ‘Stop forced land acquisition’, ‘Do not snatch lands’, ‘Do not hurt farmers' etc. The farmers at Undavalli village too protested at their CRDA office sporting black badges and raising slogans.

The farmers rued that despite their refusal to give their land under land pooling scheme the government issued land acquisition notification.

"We have refused to give our land under land pooling scheme and refused to budge in the meetings for social impact assessment, but the government went ahead and issued land acquisition notification, in spite of our objections,” said Naresh Reddy from Penumaka.

The officials have labeled their lands as 'dry lands' only to acquire them by hook or by crook, farmers said adding that they have been cultivating various crops in those fertile lands for years.