CM Revanth finally utters the Lagacherla word, but to blame farmers and contradict himself

More than a week after the unsavoury incidents in Lagacherla in his own constituency of Kodangal, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy finally spoke in public about the village, which has been in the limelight for opposing his plans for a pharma village project there.

Hyderabad: More than a week after the unsavoury incidents in Lagacherla in his own constituency of Kodangal, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy finally spoke in public about the village, which has been in the limelight for opposing his plans for a pharma village project there.

However, his attempt even then was to discredit the farmers of Lagacherla, describe their fertile lands as barren where “not even lizards lay their eggs”, and also to level allegations against the BRS, accusing the party and its working president KT Rama Rao of orchestrating attacks on officials. Even while naming the BRS, he also accused unnamed groups of sending ‘rowdies’ to attack officials and surprisingly, found fault with Rama Rao for supporting the Lagacherla victims in Delhi and enabling them to lodge complaints against midnight arrests and highhandedness of the police.

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Addressing a public meeting in Vemulawada on Wednesday, Revanth Reddy acknowledged the disproportionate impact of such projects on marginalised communities like Dalits, tribals and backward classes, but defended his decision to go for the pharma village, stating that “development required sacrifice of lands”. He also claimed that farmers would give up their land, if the price was right.

“Any farmer will give up their land for a remunerative price and we are willing to provide a better compensation,” he said.

In an attempt to justify his actions, he said he was acquiring “only 1,100 acres in four villages for industries” as against thousands of acres acquired by the previous BRS government for irrigation projects and other works. He also made an attempt to placate the protesting farmers and villagers, claiming that he had already asked officials to ensure better compensation. However, he did not make it clear why this aspect was not made public earlier, if he truly believed farmers would give up their land if the price was right.

In the process, he also found fault with the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (LARR Act) brought by the Congress-led UPA government. Revanth Reddy claimed that he had asked the Chief Secretary to consider amendments to the land acquisition policy in the State and said he would ensure compensation up to three times the registration value of the acquired land.

Here lies the contradiction – The LARR Act mandates four times the market value in rural areas, which is normally higher than the registration value. Moreover, the existing LARR Act places restrictions on the acquisition of agricultural land, including irrigated multi-cropped land. And the Chief Minister’s statement is all the more contradictory, because any amendments to the existing LARR Act are within the purview of the Centre, and the State government can only provide additional compensation.

At the same meeting, in an attempt to discredit former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, Revanth Reddy said the former had spent Rs 1.83 lakh crore for construction of irrigation projects, including Kaleshwaram, which he deemed useless. He lauded his own government for facilitating record paddy production of 1.54 lakh crore tonnes during the recent Vanakalam (Kharif) season using available water resources, another contradiction, because these water resources included groundwater which increased multifold during the BRS regime due to completion of the numerous irrigation projects including the Kaleshwaram project that he criticised, and also due to Chandrashekhar Rao’s brainchild, Mission Kakatiya, which rejuvenated around 46,000 village tanks.

During his visit, Revanth Reddy laid foundation stones for temple development works in Vemulawada, construction of Indiramma houses, a medical college building, road expansion works and a few works in Rajanna Sircilla district.