Vijayawada: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) on Saturday launched a land agitation in Vijayawada, demanding that vacant government lands in Ajith Singh Nagar and other parts of the city be allotted to poor families for house sites. Led by CPM state secretariat member Ch Baburao, poor families and party activists took out a rally to the Disney Land site in Ajith Singh Nagar.
Addressing the gathering, Baburao alleged that the government was claiming that land was not available for allotment to the poor despite large tracts of government land lying vacant in the city. He demanded that two cents of house site be allotted to eligible poor families before the forthcoming municipal elections.
The CPM leader said around 57 acres at Disney Land, 20 acres of railway land and nearly 30 acres of land associated with a waste treatment facility in Ajith Singh Nagar were lying unused. He demanded that more than 100 acres of such land be developed into layouts and distributed to poor families.
Baburao criticised the proposal to construct 15-storey TIDCO houses, stating that the financial burden of around Rs 17 lakh per house would ultimately fall on poor beneficiaries.
He alleged that TIDCO houses constructed at Jakkampudi nearly nine years ago were yet to be fully occupied and lacked basic amenities.
He questioned why the government could create land banks for industries and allocate valuable government land to private companies but could not make land available for poor families.
