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Township project embroiled in controversies Spotlight
Posted by Srini Uppala | December 26, 2007 | 309 views
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Loading ...Controversies, contradictions, violations, protests and legal wrangles have mired the Ambapuram Township project from the very first day it was conceived by the Vijayawada Guntur Tenali Mangalagiri – Urban Development Authority (VGTM UDA) in 2006.
Despite vociferous protests and opposition from local farmers and plot owners, the UDA is determined to go ahead with the project as it hopes to pocket nearly Rs. 100 crores from its 40 per cent share of the developed land.
The plot owners of Ambapuram panchayat have come together under the banner of ‘Ambapuram Area Plot Owners Association’ to resist the UDA’s plans.
The owners, whose plots are spread over 360 acres of land, assert that they do not want to join hands with the UDA for developing the township in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, as the UDA has not succeeded in any of its previous ventures.
UDA contention
The UDA rejects all these arguments and asserts that all the layouts in Ambapuram are ‘unauthorised’ as they have not been approved by it. It says that some of the indiscriminately divided plots come under high voltage power lines that pass over the area, and no residential dwelling can be allowed under these lines.
But a few organisations like the Organisation for the Protection of Democratic Rights (OPDR) contest the UDA’s claim that village panchayats have no authority to approve layouts in their areas.
The OPDR says that village panchayats have been given the authority to approve layouts in accordance with the proceedings issued by the then vice-chairman of the UDA on September 11, 1991.
Honorary advisor to the State Sarpanches’ Association B. Guruva Reddy contends that the village panchayats have been authorised to approve layouts for residential purposes.
If any panchayat had not forwarded to the UDA the layouts it approved, plot owners can’t be penalised for the lapse.
Panchayat rights
Pointing out that the Government issued the GO Ms. No. 400 in 1996 to allow regularisation of ‘all unauthorised layouts in village panchayats,’ the plot owners have expressed their willingness to pay Rs. 100 towards development charges for each square yard of land.
But the UDA has not showed any interest in the proposal, though it can fetch Rs.12 crores of revenue.
With the plot owners refusing to budge, district Collector Navin Mittal issued a notification for land acquisition that has been challenged in the High Court.
As the court stayed the notification, the UDA has changed its strategy and began negotiating with the farmers.
This too has not met with any success so far.
Many farmers have turned hostile, as some of the clauses mentioned in the draft agreement are not acceptable to them.
B. Srinivasa Raju, vice-president of Ambapuram Township Paryavekshana Samithi, feels that some of the clauses in the draft agreement are against the interests of Ambapuram farmers.
He says that the UDA is playing unfair by inserting the clauses that have not been discussed with the farmers.
“As per clause 10 included in the draft agreement dated November 23, 2007, the UDA can have its share only after completion of 75 per cent of the total works, but the newly inserted clause empowers the UDA to mortgage its share. We strongly oppose these unilaterally inserted clauses,” he maintains.
However, UDA officials assert that there is no ambiguity in the draft agreement, which they describe as ‘first of its kind in the State.’
They also say that the UDA mooted the PPP model only to avoid the painful process of land acquisition.
Ch. Bhaskar Rao of the OPDR says that his organisation proposes to file a Public Interest Litigation petition in the High Court challenging the Urban Development Authority’s decision, as it has no full-fledged body with elected representatives to take such far-reaching decisions.
SOURCES:
The Hindu
Topics: Govt In Action, Real Estate, Infrastructure |
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