It appears that ‘Future City,’ CM Revanth Reddy’s prestigious pet project, will remain a non-starter. The strict provisions present in the 2013 Land Acquisition Act will be a hindrance for Revanth to realize his dream project.
Recently, Revanth announced that his government is planning to construct a fourth city after Hyderabad, Secunderabad, and Cyberabad, naming it ‘Future City.’ The brand-new city is supposed to be constructed at Mucherla, where the BRS government earlier planned a Pharma City. It is widely reported that the Revanth government is planning to utilize the 12,000 acres of land acquired for the Pharma City project for this new city, as the Congress scrapped the Pharma project after coming to power.
However, the law mandates that land acquired for a specific purpose cannot be used for any other purposes. This means that the 2013 law will not permit Revanth to use Pharma City lands for his pet city. Earlier in 2016, in a similar case, the Supreme Court directed the Haryana government to put the acquired land to its original use or return it, protecting the land from falling into the hands of realtors.
Back in united Andhra Pradesh, thousands of acres acquired from Dalits and tribals in Polepalli near Jadcherla for a Special Economic Zone were sold to private companies. The farmers were paid Rs. 12,000-16,000 per acre, which was then sold for Rs. 40 lakh per acre to private players. This issue in 2007, when the Congress government was at the helm, has created a huge controversy in the state, and many similar incidents have taken place across the nation.
To put an end to the misuse of acquired lands for real estate purposes, the central government introduced the new act in 2013 with stricter regulations. Foreseeing the Congress government’s intentions, recently in the Assembly, BRS working president and MLA KT Rama Rao warned the government of legal hurdles and advised them to return the Pharma City lands to farmers.
Revanth’s plans to use the Pharma City lands for his dream project is a mere kite-flying and a blatant attempt to benefit the realtors at the expense of farmers. The law will clearly not permit Revanth to use those lands, and his ‘Future City’ has no future whatsoever.