The Communist Party of India (CPI) has urged Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to provide immediate compensation to farmers whose lands were acquired for a proposed industrial project in Eluru district, or to return the lands without further delay.
In a letter to the Chief Minister on Friday (December 26, 2025), CPI State secretary G. Eswaraiah said that about 340 acres were taken from farmers at Vatloor village in Pedapadu mandal for setting up VEM Technology, an aircraft components manufacturing unit. Although the project was announced in 2016 and the land was allotted through the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), the unit never came up and the farmers were not paid compensation. Many of them have continued cultivating the land for nearly a decade amid uncertainty, he said.
Mr. Eswaraiah said that after the YSR Congress Party came to power in 2019, the project was stalled. In 2022, the APIIC reportedly resumed possession of the land from the company, but it was neither utilised nor returned to the farmers. As a result, several farming families are facing severe financial distress, particularly during marriages and other social obligations.
Recalling that compensation of ₹2.5 lakh per acre was promised in 2016, the CPI leader said that circumstances had since changed. He demanded that the government either revise and release the compensation immediately or return the land to the affected farmers to ensure justice to the agrarian community.
Published – December 27, 2025 05:30 am IST
