Until Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s intervention, all political parties and the Andhra Pradesh State Government had played with the lives of farmers affected by the Kakinada Special Economic Zone (KSEZ) for the past 19 years. They own the land, but the records are still in the name of KSEZ. As a result, the farmers’ livelihoods have been nearly destroyed, their daughters’ marriages, children’s education, and overall living conditions have suffered severely.
Some sons-in-law even sent their wives back to their parents’ homes due to the absence of land. For the past 19 years, the farmers have been struggling with the government to reclaim their lands. Eventually, Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan took the initiative to convince Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu to return the lands to the rightful farmers.
This episode has continued since 2006 until Pawan Kalyan stepped in. A total of 1,437 farmers across Thondangi and U. Kothapalli mandals in Kakinada district remains deprived of ownership rights over 1,189 acres of highly fertile land.The lands were originally acquired in 2006 for KSEZ during the tenure of former Chief Minister Dr. Y. S. Rajasekhar Reddy.
Of the 10,500 acres acquired for KSEZ, 8,401 acres were earmarked for industrial development, with plans to establish petroleum, petrochemical, synthetic chemical, solar PV, lithium-ion battery, ceramics, and other allied industries.Between 2006 and 2019, resistance and protests from displaced farmers intensified.
In response, then Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy pledged to return the lands. Subsequently, the government issued G.O. Ms. No. 12 in 2021, initiating the process of restoring 2,180 acres to the original farmers. Aurobindo Realty and Infrastructure Limited began a resurvey to return lands to the farmers.
From the identified lands, 784 acres of land would have to substitute. About 1,396 acres remained under the physical possession of farmers, but the land records continued to be in the name of KSEZ. Out of these, registrations for 526 acres of substitute land and 465 acres of land under physical possession have been successfully completed in the farmers’ names.
However, the remaining 258 acres of substitute land and 931 acres of physically possessed land are yet to be registered. In total, 1,189 acres have not been transferred to farmers due to the removal of the “free registration” option on the Stamps and Registration Department’s website.
Following Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan’s initiative, the Department of Stamps and Registration is expected to reinstate the free registration option on its website to facilitate the transfer of these 1,189 acres of KSEZ lands to the farmers.
