Reckless land acquisition deplored

HYDERABAD: The plight of a woman who lost her land to a project that never took off moved the High Court Wednesday to level severe criticism against the bureaucracy for depriving poor villagers, particularly farmers, of their means of livelihood in the name of land acquisition for development.K Vasantha lost her 92 cents of land to a project at Krishnapatnam village in Muthukur mandal in Nellore district. Ever since then, she has been relentlessly fighting for adequate compensation or alternative land.She contended in her petition that enough compensation was not paid to her nor was alternative land given in spite of precedent verdicts in the Supreme Court.Appearing in person along with her brother in the court of justice L Narasimha Reddy on Wednesday, she told the judge that after all the twists and turns, the project was finally abandoned.Justice Narasimha Reddy reprimanded the bureaucracy for facilitating the dispossession of villagers, especially poor farmers, by acquiring their land for projects without any concern for the devastation it may cause to the people.Justice Narasimha Reddy asked Venugopal Reddy, erstwhile RDO of Muthukur mandal, why alternative land was not given to Vasantha.Adjourning the hearing for two weeks, the judge directed the district collector of Nellore and the RDO concerned to inform the court why the project had not taken of and the position relating to the availability of alternative land. The judge expressed anguish that thousands of acres of fertile land was being taken away for projects and then being kept fallow for years.The judge said that officers were claiming that there was no government land available for projects, thereby facilitating the acquistion of small farmers’s holdings. This was a violation of the spirit of the law, he said.