The Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) is looking forward to convincing farmers of a few villages around the capital city to give up their land under its Land Pooling Scheme, expecting more farmers from other villages to approach on their own, seeking development of their land.In order to generate response to the land pooling notification issued at the end of December last year, officials from the urban authority have been visiting a few places and trying to convince farmers to give up their land for development, so that they could get developed plots in lieu of the land. Response has been positive from villages such as Pratap Singaram of Ranga Reddy district, Medipally of Medchal district, and also from Kandi village of Sangareddy district, T. Chiranjeevulu, HMDA Commissioner, informed.
Buoyed by its success with respect to development of Uppal Bagayat lands, the HMDA has recently issued a land notification, under which farmers with contiguous pieces of land may approach the authority for development, if the total extent was not less than 50 acres.At Uppal Bagayat, the farmers had initially refused to surrender their land under the Land Acquisition for Musi River Conservation and River Front Development project, and sought legal redress, claiming that they could develop their own land instead of giving them up to HMDA.
However, after HMDA got the State government’s approval for obtaining the land under the land pooling scheme, it was a win-win situation and the offer for allotment of 1,000 sq. yards of developed area for an acre of undeveloped land got many seekers.
So far, 280 out of 1,400 plots have been registered in the name of farmers who had given up their land, Mr. Chiranjeevulu informed.Land to the extent of 370 acres in Pratap Singaram, 120 acres in Medipally, and 300-400 acres in Sangareddy district might be soon available for development, he shared.To work out the ratio in which the farmers will be allotted developed plots, the book value of the lands as per the sub-registrar’s office will be doubled and juxtaposed against the cost of development incurred by HMDA, subject to a minimum of 30 % of developed area to be handed over to the beneficiary.
