*Helipad land is Railway property, not farmers’: Vemareddy*

Tadepalli, Feb 12: YSRCP Mangalagiri constituency coordinator Donthireddy Vemareddy strongly refuted Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s allegations that farmers’ land was forcibly taken for a helipad in Tadepalli during the YSRCP government. Speaking at the YSRCP central office in Tadepalli, he clarified that the 10.4 acres in Survey Nos. 223 and 226/C2 remain recorded as Railway land in official revenue records and were never farmer-owned agricultural fields. He stated that the land was not placed under Section 22A by the YSRCP government, but was already recorded through official proceedings in 2015 and formally notified on May 26, 2016, as confirmed by Guntur Collectorate and municipal records.
Vemareddy emphasized that no cultivation ever took place on the land and recalled that it had long remained under Railway control, previously leased to EID Parry for a fertilizer factory. Even after the factory’s closure and sale of machinery, the land itself remained Railway property. He said the individual who complained to Chandrababu is not a farmer but an industrialist, and presenting him as a farmer is misleading the public.
He criticized the Chief Minister for making repeated allegations without verifying facts and accused him of diverting attention from governance failures. Vemareddy urged the CM to focus on pending public issues such as crop loss compensation, fertilizer supply, fee reimbursement for students, and welfare commitments to women and backward sections. He remarked that in the age of smartphones and instant information, people will not believe repeated false claims simply because of supportive media.
He also demanded a white paper on state borrowings, noting that the YS Jagan government borrowed Rs. 3.27 lakh crore over five years for welfare, whereas the current government has reportedly borrowed Rs. 3.31 lakh crore in just 20 months. Vemareddy further expressed suspicion that attempts may be underway to allocate the Tadepalli Railway land to private parties and called for full transparency.