‘Retain A.P. Assigned Lands Act in its original form’
The Hindu
New proposal dilutes its purpose: union
A roundtable hosted by the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Workers Union(APAWU) on Tuesday urged the YSR Congress Party government to continue with the Andhra Pradesh Assigned Lands (Prohibition of Transfers) Act in its original form. The amendments to the Act carried out by the previous Telugu Desam Party government allowed sale of such lands 20 years after the date of assignment to Dalits. But the Jagan Mohan Reddy government proposes to allow sale of such lands 10 years after they were assigned to landless poor. The proposal dilutes the very purpose of the Act, which prohibited transfers of assigned lands given to Dalits. Hence the Act should be retained in its original form, felt APAWU Prakasam District Secretary K. Anjaneyulu while briefing on the resolutions adopted at the meeting.The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.