Governor Told 17,513 Acres Worth Rs 3,00,000 Cr. Illegally Occupied In RangaReddy

The purging exercise taken up by the Telangana government to recover encroached land has revealed that 17,513 acres of government land worth Rs three lakh crore in Ranga Reddy district was taken over illegally by individuals and institutions, many of them being either politicians or industrialists from the Seemandhra region. And leading the pack was a former minister in the previous Congress government who had held an important portfolio.

This was the finding of a recent survey conducted by the Ranga Reddy district administration. As per the survey, the total government-owned land in RR district stands at 5.53 lakh acre. Most of the encroached land is located in Qutubullapur, Uppal, Malkajgiri, Medchal, Serilingampally, Saroornagar, Hayathnagar, Shamirpet, Moinabad and Balanagar.

Suspecting that revenue divisional officers in the district played a key role in the land grabbing by the former minister, the TRS government transferred all of them soon after assuming charge. These details emerged at a meeting convened by governor E S L Narasimhan a few days ago that was attended by the chief secretaries, DGPs and CCLAs of both the states as well as Hyderabad and Cyberabad police commissioners.

The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the issue of land disputes, a key concern for both the states. While AP officials wanted status quo to be maintained and Seemandhra politicians and industrialists not targeted unfairly, Telangana officials said there was a need to recover the thousands of acres of land encroached upon by powerful individuals.

According to sources, in the meeting, the governor hinted to the officials that land disputes on the outskirts of the GHMC and HMDA areas are going to be the major cause of concern in the coming few years and suggested to them that they should have a contingency plan ready to handle it. As per the AP Reorganization Act, on and from the Appointed Day, for the purposes of administration of the common capital area, the governor shall have special responsibility for the security of life, liberty and property of all those who reside in such areas.

It was then that it was stated by Telangana officials that thousands of acres of government land besides a huge chunk of disputed land in Ranga Reddy district has been encroached either by politicians from the Seemandhra region or by business powerhouses backed by them in the past few years with the assistance of some revenue officials. A point of concern was that if and when the Telangana government starts investigating into the encroached government lands and initiates steps to re-possess them, the encroachers might give it a regional colour and accuse the government of targeting Seemandhra people in the common capital area. At the same time, another concern was that land grabbers with the backing of Telangana politicians including ruling party members might try to claim ownership of the properties owned by the Seemandhra population.

The Cyberabad police said they have prepared a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to handle such complaints of land ownership and grabbing. Cyberabad police were also the first in the erstwhile united state to open a history-sheet against land grabbers.

The officials were directed to have the contingency plan ready as soon as possible as conflict between the two states over the possession of land in and around Hyderabad could happen anytime now. This became clear after Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday directed his revenue and industries officials to prepare a policy by which government land encroached upon by individuals and institutions in Telangana, particularly in Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medak, be taken back by the state.

Source: ToI