Pawan Kalyan : Govt has to address farmers' concerns first

Hyderabad, March 6, 2015: Actor Pawan Kalyan said on Friday that his visit to the AP capital region villages was not aimed at troubling the Telugu Desam Government. Addressing a press conference here this morning, Pawan Kalyan expressed his doubts over the proper utilization of 33,000 acres pooled from farmers at a single stretch. "Our capital city can not be compared with Singapore which is corruption free. Our country has immense political corruption. What is the necessity of collecting 33,000 acres at once at this stage. Is there any guarantee that the lands taken would be useful to the government and the farmers?" he asked. He also said that the government should have assessed the ecological impact of the constructing capital city in such a huge land and winding up agricultural operations in as big an extent as 33,000 acres. He said farmers of different villages in the capital region are facing different problems. He said that the package offered to the farmers of Undavalli village is not in tune with the value of their lands. "The farmers of the Undavalli village strongly feel package offered to them is very inadequate. The land value is Rs. 3 Cr per acre and the package offered to the village lands is nowhere near the rate," he said. The lands at Penumaka are 3-crop yielding ones enabling farmers to get agricultural yield throughout the year. "The farmers at this village have expressed doubts about the sources of alternative livelihood for them as they would lose their lands. 'How can we live if there is no agriculture?' was the question raised by these villagers," said Pawan Kalyan. Even Tulluru farmers are doubtful over the implementation of the land pooling package offered to them.