Social activist decries land allotment to Adani Group

Visakhapatnam: Former IAS officer and social activist E A S Sarma has found several loopholes in allotment of land for the data centre and other associated facilities by Adani Group in the city.

He said in a letter to Chief Secretary K S Jawahar Reddy that the State Government has allotted more than 270 acres of valuable hill poramboke land to the Adani Group for a data centre in Madhurawada village (Survey Nos 409 and 427), Visakhapatnam rural mandal.

He said “the land allotment made to Adani Group is illegal in the light of the judgement dated January 28, 2011 delivered in the civil appeal (Jagpat Singh and others Vs State of Punjab and the directions issued by the apex court to all the States not to alienate government poramboke lands to private parties.”

Since the State Government has stopped displaying GOs on its portal, the relevant GO is not readily accessible to the public which suggests that the State Government, for reasons best known to it, is hiding the said order from public view. Clearly, by allotting the land in question to the Adani Group, the State Government has committed contempt of the court’s direction, apart from granting a huge undue favour to the private company.