Farmers protest over pending compensation for Visakhapatnam data centre project

Farmers who lost their land for the proposed data centre at Tarluvada in Anandapuram mandal staged a protest in front of the Tahsildar’s office on Tuesday, demanding that the State government and the project authorities honour the assurances made to them.

They submitted a memorandum to the Tahsildar, seeking immediate payment of pending compensation to 520 affected farmers, including assignees. They also demanded permanent jobs for one member of each displaced family, allotment of land, and construction of a commercial complex for Dalit farmers, as promised earlier.

The protesters urged the authorities to give preference to local residents in construction-related jobs, remove restrictions imposed by security personnel on access to their remaining agricultural lands, and make the environmental impact assessment report on the proposed data centre public.

Extending support to the agitation, the CPI(M) demanded that the long-pending issues be resolved without further delay. Party leaders B. Gangarao, former corporator, and R. S. N. Murthy, Bheemili Division secretary, said repeated representations had failed to elicit a response. They warned that the party would obstruct construction of the data centre if the demands were not met within a fortnight.