Pawan alleges 24 acre Dalits’ lands in possession of Saraswati Power

Narasaraopet: Deputy Chief Minister and minister for forests and panchayat raj K Pawan Kalyan alleged that former chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had taken lands belonging to Dalits for Saraswati Power and Industries Private Ltd and records were tampered to grab forest land.

He said Jagan Mohan Reddy as chief minister allotted 196 crore litre water for the industry which has not been set up so far.

The Deputy CM visited the lands allotted to Saraswati Power at Vemavaram and Chennayapalem villages of Machavaram mandal of Palnadu district on Tuesday.

Speaking to the media, he said the YSRCP leaders threatened the famers and forcefully acquired land for the project and he has ordered an inquiry into it. He said the family members of late chief minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy were fighting for the properties.

He said the farmers felt that the Saraswati Power will give jobs to their children but the company has not set up its plant, and dreams of the farmers were shattered.

He said according to the primary reports, records were tampered with and 400 acre forest land was shown as revenue land. “I have directed the Palnadu district collector to conduct a detailed inquiry into it and submit a report,” he added.

Pawan said late chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s family members have 86 per cent share in the company. The company belongs to two families. He recalled that the YSRCP government had harassed the former Assembly Speaker Dr Kodela Siva Prasada Rao for furniture which led to his suicide. “The same person who harassed and drove Dr Siva Prasada Rao to suicide in the name of furniture, has grabbed hundreds of acre lands in the name of plant,” he alleged.

“The government has allotted 710 acre land at Vemavaram, 273 acre at Chennayapalem, 93.79 acre at Pinnelli and 110.36 acre at Tangeda. Of them, patta lands were 1,043.75 acre and dotted with 75 acre,” he said.

He further said that when the disputes came to light in the YSR’s family on the Saraswati Power, he had ordered an inquiry into lands. He said according to official reports, Saraswati Power land contained 24 acre assigned land. He alleged that YSRCP leaders terrorised the poor Dalit families with petrol bombs and took their lands. “YSRCP leaders had forcibly taken another 350 acre land for the company. This land belongs to the farmers and I have come here to give assurance to farmers. During YSR government, the company had taken lands for 30 years lease and when the YSRCP government was in power, the lease period was extended to 50 years,” he said adding that the issue will be discussed in the Cabinet meeting.

Palnadu district collector P Arun Babu, SP Kanchi Srinivas, MLA Yarapathineni Srinivas and others accompanied Pawan.