Former Chief Government Whip K Venkata Rao on Wednesday demanded that the State Government return the land to the farmers that it acquired for setting up the Special Economic Zone at Kakinada.
Talking to reporters at the NTR Trust Bhavan, Venkata Rao defended the protest by farmers in Kakinada on Tuesday demanding return of their lands. He said that the farmers’ lands were acquired for the SEZ during the tenure of YS Rajasekhara Reddy as the Chief Minister. Besides payment of compensation, the farmers were also promised jobs in the SEZ. However, he said that farmers were neither paid compensation nor the SEZ was set up.
While announcing support to the protest by farmers, Venkata Rao said that the government should return the land and pay adequate compensation for snatching their livelihood for last so many years. He said the affected farmers were small and each of them owned just two to three acres of land. (INN)