DMK govt taking over small farmers' land: Jaya

Chennai, Aug 10 (UNI) Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa today alleged that the DMK government was taking over land developed and being used by small and marginal farmers for free distribution of two acre land to landless farmers.

Reiterating that the government's promise to distribute two acre land free to landless farmers was not feasible due to lack of land, she alleged that the DMK government, in a hurry to launch the scheme on September 17, was taking over developed land from farmers.

Contrary to the poll promise to develop wasteland and distribute them free of cost to landless farmers for cultivation, the government was taking over land being used by farmers for four to five decades and distributing them to the landless, she said in a statement.

Poor farmers using government promboke lands feared that the government would take over their land and already two farmers, one in Hosur and another in Nilgiris district, had committed suicide after officials confiscated their lands, she charged.

Reacting to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's announcement that the government would launch the scheme on September 17, Ms Jayalalithaa, said due to lack of availability of wasteland in the state, it would not be possible for the government to distribute two acre land to all landless farmers in the state.

When Mr Karunanidhi said there was only 1.95 lakh acre government poromboke wasteland, free from encroachment, how could it be distributed to five lakh landless farmers in the first phase as claimed by him, she asked. 'It will not be possible to even distribute 0.5 acre of land to five lakh farmers,' she said.

Stating that development of wastelands would require time, Ms Jayalalithaa wondered how it would be possible to distribute two acre land to five lakh farmers on September 17, coinciding with the birth anniversary of rationalist leader Periyar E V Ramasamy.

Ms Jayalaithaa said her government had never mentioned in the budget that the government had 50 acre wasteland. In the budget for 2001-02, her government had only said 20 hectare land (50 acre) would be developed in five years and put to use for cultivation.

Her government had never said that 20 hectare wasteland was in the government's possession, she said and charged the DMK government with trying to confuse landless farmers by giving false promises.

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