Amaravati, 07 January (HS): The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday launched the second phase of land pooling in Amaravati for various infrastructure projects in the state capital.

Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Ponguru Narayana, along with local MLA Shravan Kumar, inaugurated the land pooling programme at Vaddamanu village in Thullur mandal. Authorities organised a Gram Sabha, during which officials received consent letters from farmers.

Vaddamanu is one of the seven villages in Thullur and Amaravati mandals where 16,666.57 acres are proposed to be pooled for infrastructure projects, including a railway track, the Inner Ring Road and an International Sports City.

A Gram Sabha for land pooling is also scheduled to be held on Wednesday evening at Yendrayi village in Amaravati mandal. Pooling has already commenced for about 1,900 acres in Yendrayi, with farmers voluntarily offering their land.

Officials said a notification has been issued for pooling 9,097 acres of patta land and seven acres of assigned land in Thullur mandal of Guntur district, and 7,465 acres of patta land along with 97 acres of assigned land in Amaravati mandal of Palnadu district.

At the 57th meeting of the Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority held on Tuesday, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the progress of the second phase of land pooling. The meeting noted that development works are progressing rapidly on the 34,000 acres pooled so far.

Minister Narayana said construction of 4,026 government quarters, five administrative towers, the Assembly building and the High Court is being expedited to meet stipulated deadlines.

The State Cabinet had approved the second phase of land pooling in November last year. An area of 16,666.57 acres will be acquired under sub-section (2) of Section 55 of the APCRDA Act.

The Chief Minister had earlier stated that the existing 29-village footprint is inadequate to develop Amaravati as a metropolitan capital and warned that restricting expansion could reduce it to a municipal-scale urban centre.

The state government has already pooled about 34,000 acres for capital development, while an additional 16,000 acres from endowment, forest, Waqf and poramboke lands has expanded Amaravati’s footprint to around 50,000 acres. However, proposals to acquire another 30,000 acres across 11 villages outside the core capital area are facing resistance. The government plans to develop an international airport in Amaravati by acquiring additional land.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar