AP govt announces distribution of one lakh acres of surplus land

With land reforms forming the core of naxalites' agenda during the ongoing peace talks, the Andhra Pradesh government today announced that one lakh acres of land would be distributed to the poor in January next year.

"We will embark on a massive programme to distribute one lakh acres of agricultural land to the poor on a single day. We have issued necessary orders to set the process in motion," Revenue Minister D Prasada Rao told reporters here.

The land assignment committees at the assembly constituency level, headed by the respective MLA, would finalise the list of beneficiaries, the minister said after holding a video-conferencing with district collectors.

Of the one lakh acres identified as surplus land, 50,000 acres would be distributed among scheduled castes and scheduled tribes while the remaining would be given to backward classes and the economically weaker sections among the forward castes.

The date for 'land mela' would be decided after consulting chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, he said adding, the land distribution would be done on a 'single day' across the state.

"It will just be a beginning of a major mission to distribute every inch of the available surplus land to the landless poor. It reflects the congress government's commitment to work for the uplift of the poor," Rao said. Each revenue village in the state would be taken as a unit for the purpose of identification of all categories of surplus lands, Rao said.

The beneficiaries would be handed over lands with a maximum limit of 2.5 acres in case of wetland and five acres with respect to dry lands.

The issue of land reforms was on top of the agenda of the first-ever direct talks between naxalites and the government held last month. The representatives of CPI (Maoist) and Janasakthi organisations had demanded immediate distribution of land among the poor.

The subsequent developments involving forcible occupation of government land by naxalites was causing embarrassment to the government.

Denying that the latest initiative on land distribution is in response to pressure from extremist groups, the revenue minister said the issue was "always a top priority" for successive Congress governments in the state.

"During the last 50 years, over 50 lakh acres of surplus lands were distributed to the poor. It was done only during Congress regimes. The previous TDP government's neglect of pressing public issues including distribution of surplus lands had resulted in mass struggles, anger and resentment among the poor," he said.