Atchuthapuram-Anakapalli road project affected people seek monetary compensation, not TDR bonds

Farmers and businessmen oppose TDR bonds as compensation for land acquisition in road widening project, demand monetary compensation.

As many as 1,200 farmers and businessmen, who will lose their lands as part of the 14-km road widening from Anakapalli to Atchutapuram in the district, are saying that they do not want Transferable Development Right (TDR) bonds as compensation for acquisition of their lands. Instead, they demand monetary compensation as per the Land Acquisition Act, 2013.

The road widening will be undertaken at an estimated cost of ₹347 crore. IT Minister Nara Lokesh laid foundation stone for the project on March 31, 2025.

The affected people warn that if the government goes ahead with the project without conceding their demand they will not allow the work to begin. They brought the issue to the notice of officials, local MLA (Elemanchili) Sundarapu Vijay Kumar and the district in-charge Minister Kollu Ravindra.

Boddeda Ramachandra Rao, who is leading the protest, said people who will lose land (ranging from 10 to 200 square yards) in the project, are not against the project, but don’t want TDR bonds.

“We only want cash. What should we do with TDR bonds? We can use the money for our financial needs. Moreover, after the Tanuku TDR scam, we do not believe in TDR bonds. We came to know that some farmers in Chittoor district are presently facing problems with the TDR bonds.”

Mr. Rao said that the district administration has recently started holding Gram Sabhas in Atchuthapuram, Anakapalli and Munagapaka mandals with a team of Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority (VMRDA) officials to educate them about TDR bonds. He said they are also not clear about the role of the VMRDA in the project.

“We all expressed our opinions against TDR bonds in Gram Sabhas. Mr. Lokesh laid the foundation stone on March 31, 2025. We tried to bring this matter to his notice, but we did not get a chance. Recently, we brought this matter to the attention of our district in-charge Minister Kollu Ravindra. We have not received any response from him till today,” Mr. Ramachandra Rao told The Hindu on April 12.