TDP demands 'white paper' on land acquisitions for SEZ

Hyderabad, Mar 31 (UNI) Alleging that irregularities existed while lands were acquired from poor farmers for Special Economic Zones (SEZs), the main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) today demanded that the government come out with a 'white paper' on land acquisition and allocation of the lands to industrial houses.

Addressing a press conference at the TDP legislature party office here, TDP MLA D Umamaheswara Rao questioned why the Government had cancelled the mining lease awarded to the cement major Gujarat Ambuja and awarded the same to the Raghuram Cements Ltd, in which Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy was a Director.

Poor farmers' lands were acquired at a cheap price for the proposed SEZ and a Science city in Anantapur, he charged.

He took strong objection to the reported remark of the Congress leaders that the government would allot land even to a firm floated by TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu or his associates if they applied for one.

Accusing the government of turning into a realtor, using the SEZs as a money making tool for Congress men, he alleged that the Congressmen, who had prior information about these SEZs, were acquiring land from poor farmers on a large scale to mint more money.

UNI