HYDERABAD, 19 October 2004 — The Communist Party of India-Maoist and Janashakti Naxalites raised the hackles of the state government by demanding the distribution of 27,000 acres of prime land in and around Hyderabad presently “encroached upon or occupied” by business houses, IT firms, pharma companies, real estate developers, film producers and other “vested interests.”
On the third day of the peace talks with the government representatives here on Sunday, the CPI-Maoist and Janshakti leaders furnished a list of 43 influential individuals and firms which own hundreds of acres of land on the outskirts of the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad.
They claimed that these lands are agricultural lands “encroached” upon with patronage extended by successive governments in the past. The list was released to the media on Sunday night.
They wanted the government to ensure that all “big land grabbers or occupiers” vacated these lands so that these could be distributed to the landless poor. They pointed out that most of the land allotments were made during the nine-year rule of former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
They asked the government to either take over these lands or collect market value from them since they were not service-oriented but were only making profits from the lands. If there is no response from the government, the Naxalite parties will announce their plan of action.
The list reads like a who’s who of persons/firms in the field of real estate, film industry, information technology etc. It is meant to be a symbolic attack against “neo-gentry” which was dictating terms to the government with its political clout.
Meanwhile, Naxalite prisoner P. Bala Ganesh, who is undergoing life imprisonment along with others in connection with the murder of the then Congress MP Magunta Subbarama Reddy nine years ago, was released on a day’s parole yesterday afternoon.
Earlier in the day, CPI-Maoist emissaries Varavara Rao, Gaddar and G. Kalyan Rao, along with the Naxalite convict’s sister, called on Home Minister K. Jana Reddy and pleaded with him to release Bala Ganesh on parole for 24 hours to enable him to meet CPI-Maoist AP state secretary Ramakrishna, who is heading the team for the peace talks with the government.
