<p>Rejoinder of Andhra Pradesh in the matter of Gutha Gunasekhar & Others Vs Union of India, 11/02/2022. The matter related to environmental clearance granted to the Handri Neeva Sujala Sravanti (HNSS)
THE international diamond industry has found its next big destination, and it's the land of the Nizams. Geological findings in seven districts of Andhra Pradesh have shown up extensive diamond deposits which, naturally, has got the big boys interested. Already, seven companies have applied for prospecting licences (42 in all) covering a land base of over 1,495 sq km.
An innovative attempt was made to promote the concept of village based seed banks by the International Crops Research Institute for Semi- Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) as an intervention of Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihood Program (APRLP) in Andhra Pradesh state.
Kurnool, June 2: The managing director of Enercon India Private Limited, Mr Yogesh Mehra, said that the company would commission a wind energy plant with an outlay of Rs 600 crores under the Vaayu India Power Corporation Limited project in Kolimigandla mandal in Kurnool district.
Officials who procured land for construction of a canal under the Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanti (HNSS) project at Gargeyapuram village in the mandal, refused to pay compensation for about 50 acres, saying that it was government land. Mr Ravindra Reddy, a farmer, said their elders had purchased about 50 acres in the village about 40 years ago. He said officials had given pattadar passbooks for the lands and they had taken bank loans using them. Mr Ravindra Reddy said eight other farmers were also cultivating the land. He said officials had paid Rs 95,000 per acre as compensation to other farmers in the village whose lands were acquired. Mr Ravindra Reddy said officials had promised to give them similar compensation and after three years told them that no compensation would be given. He said farmers, who were cultivating the lands, had no other land and didn't know how to repay their bank loans. Mr Ravindra Reddy said they had been paying land tax for the lands for the last 40 years. He said officials were also refusing to pay compensation being given to those cultivating government land to them. Mr Ravindra Reddy said they would search for alternate livelihood if compensation was paid to them and warned that they would have to commit suicide along with their family members if aid was denied.
Stating that the recent unseasonal heavy rains were so rare that they occurred only the third time in the last 100 years, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy announced a "special package' to liberally assist farmers whose crops were damaged in 11 districts of the State. The cash compensation allowed on each crop damaged has been doubled under the package. The 11 districts are Prakasam, Nellore, Guntur, Krishna, Srikakulam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Visakhapatnam, Kadapa, Kurnool and Nizamabad. Making a suo motu statement in the Assembly on Tuesday, Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy said the commercial crops faced the brunt as they were normally sown around this time of the year. The package provided for payment of compensation of Rs. 4, 500 per hectare in case of paddy, groundnut, chillies and vegetables and Rs. 3,750 per hectare for sunflower, maize and pulses. The government would recommend to cooperative and other banks to reschedule present crop loans and issue fresh ones.
