Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is facing the heat in his home district of Medak with the farming community potesting against his government's proposal to acquire vast tracts of agricultural land for irrigation and industrial projects, according to Times of India.
It is reported that the farmers are determined to turn the ongoing agitation into a mass movement, similar to the agitations in Nandigram and Singur in West Bengal.
The government is planning to acquire another 15,000 acres for Kondapochamma reservoir to be built near the chief minister's assembly constituency Gajwel. Apart from this, the district is set to lose over 25,000 acres for the National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) that may take away 31 villages in Zaheerabad, says TOI.
“Nearly one lakh acres of rich agriculture land has been earmarked for various projects including two reservoirs and NIMZ.Our anguish is that the government has not even thought of compensating the farmers, while such an unprecedented move to acquire one lakh acres in a district is questionable in the first place,“ M Kodanda Reddy, president of Kisan and Kheth Mazdoor Congress told TOI.
People of 14 villages in Togata and Kondapaka mandals which are going to be submerged in the Mallannasagar reservoir are protesting.