Big ticket projects promised by the Andhra Pradesh government to spur growth in western parts of the drought-prone Prakasam district remain a non-starter till date, causing heartburn to the stakeholders while also being the prime reason behind the demand for creation of a new district with Markapur as headquarters.
Except for announcements by both the Telugu Desam Party government and the present Jagan Mohan Reddy regime, the sleepy village of Donakonda, which had once been in the hot race for location of the State capital, presents a picture of neglect today.
All efforts to bring in aerospace majors to Donakonda, a strategic airstrip of the Britishers during the World War II and now owned by the Airports Authority of India, had not fructified.
Except for a visit by a team of experts for conduct of soil tests, defence manufacturing units had not seen the light of day, noted Sk Saida, convener of Markapur District Sadhana Samiti (MDSS).
The proposed industrial corridor at Donakonda too has not taken off except for identifying 12,600 acres for the project.
About 3,000 acres in Ragamakkapalli, Indlasamudram, Bhumanapalli, Rudrasamudram and Munganapudi and other villages close to Donakonda had been transferred to the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation(APIIC) for the development of industrial infrastructure. But no progress has been made on this front too, lamented MDSS chairman K. Narayana Reddy.
“We will launch a protracted struggle as there is no hope of the backward western Prakasam, including Podili-Donakonda-Markapur belt, witnessing development under the present set up,” he said in a conversation with The Hindu.
Farmers ask govt. to return their land
Meanwhile, a group of farmers in Rudrasamudram village near Donakonda, on whom notices had been issued for acquiring their land for 1,000 MW solar power plant project, demanded that the government return their land since the project work had not made any progress since 2018. Around 1,454 acres were transferred to the Andhra Pradesh Green Energy Corporation for the purpose.
“We were asked by the authorities not to grow crops in our land. But no compensation has been provided so far to any of the displaced people. How long can we wait?”, asked a villager, M. Gurumurthy.
They vehemently opposed the proposal of the government to enter into a 25 year lease for setting up of the clean energy power plant as the amount decided by the authorities for payment of compensation was a paltry ₹25,000 per acre. The land, when returned after 25 years, would also be rendered unfit for cultivation, they complained.
‘Delay in land acquisition process’
Meanwhile, New & Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Ltd Deputy General Manager G. Harinath Babu explained that the solar power project could not make any progress due to delay in land acquisition process. A lease agreement would be finalised soon with the farmers in this regard, he added.
