Capital farmers fall into fire from frying pan, lose everything

Guntur, March 13, 2015: Capital region farmers, who have received annual compensation for their lands given to the Government for constructing capital city have received shock of their lives. The AP Government has recently paid annual compensation at the rate of Rs.30,000 per acre in upland areas and Rs. 50,000 per acre in riverside villages for most farmers who have given their lands. However, when they went to the banks to present the cheques for collection, bank officials made it clear to them that these amounts would be adjusted towards their pending agricultural loans. This means they can not draw the amounts from their accounts. Government, which has released Rs.60 Cr towards the annual compensation through CRDA, will release another Rs.30 Cr shortly to the rest of farmers. They fear these amounts also will go towards adjustment of their pending crop loans. The farmers in the 29 capital villages owe more than Rs.350 Cr to various banks and no one has repaid their loans expecting the Government to make payments under the loan waiver. But Government has also not implemented the loan waiver. Now , with the annual compensation paid by the government for their lands being adjusted towards their loans on one hand and losing their lands for capital city on the other, they are nowhere to go. They have just fallen into the fire from the frying pan. God save them.