HC: Pay Rs 28 lakh per acre to Bhogapuram assignees

HYDERABAD: Justice MS Ramachandra Rao of the Hyderabad high court directed the Andhra Pradesh government, the Vizianagaram district collector and land acquisition officials of Bhogapuram international airport project to pay Rs 28 lakh compensation per acre to all the assignee farmers in Kancheru area of Bhogapuram mandal. The judge pronounced this order after hearing a plea by Karagana Appala Narasaiah and 90 other assignees, whose land was acquired for the project.
According to their counsel Pativada Ramakrishna, the officials obtained forcible consent from the poor assignees and gave them a mere Rs 12.5 lakh per acre, while giving Rs 28-33 lakh to regular farmers.
“This is contrary to the judgment in the Mekala Pandu case which mandated the state to pay the assignee farmers on a par with regular farmers. In fact, the officials made a promise to the assignees that they will be paid on par with regular farmers,” he said.
The judge said that the argument of the state about consent given by farmers, falls under fraud and cheating as the consent letters did not specify the price at which land was being taken. They merely convey the intention of the farmers to part with their land. Showing this as an agreement is fraud and cheating, he said.