Mohd Mahmood Ali, Deputy Chief Minister and revenue minister has said the cabinet will take a decision on all land allotments done earlier. Its means that land auctions and allotments made to private firms and individuals in the last few years are under the scanner.
Auction of land parcels and allotments made by the Hyderabad Urban Development Authority (HMDA), Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and AP Housing Board (APHB) apart from land allotments to various firms in Ranga Reddy district has been fiercely opposed by the TRS.
The APHB, HMDA and APIIC either sold or handed over land worth nearly Rs 5,000 crore between 2005 and 2010 in areas like Gachibowli, Kokapet, Shamshabad and Jubilee Hills for resource mobilization of the Jalayagnam project.
The auction of land in the Golden Mile Project at Kokapet, which landed in legal quarrel, had fetched Rs 700 crore, whereas a land parcel at Jubilee Hills added Rs 330 crore to the HMDA (then Huda) kitty.
TRS had opposed the land auctions alleging that government land in Ranga Reddy and Hyderabad was sold out for a song by the YSR government. TRS MLA K Tarakarama Rao, who is at present, is a minister had staged a dharna at the HMDA office in July 2012 demanding the authority stop land auctions? He had announced that all allotments and auctions would be scrutinized.
Recently, about 4.6 acre of prime land at Nandagiri Hills in Jubilee Hills was sold at a throw-away price to an aide of then CM N Kiran Kumar Reddy alleged the TRS leaders.
The JAC Advocate’s had even lodged a complaint with the Anti-Corruption Bureau requesting authorities to book a fraud case against the CM. Likewise, the TRS party had fought against land allotments to DLF (Kukatpally) and Padmalaya Studio (Jubilee Hills).
According to official sources, the revenue department had separated 35,510 acres of land for government and private institutions in Ranga Reddy in the past 10 years. Of this, 27,340 acres was used by the allottees for the purpose it was allotted and another 7,370 acres was found to be unutilized.
The Ranga Reddy administration has started resumption of unutilized land from institutions, departments and individuals. The district administration has written to the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration to resume 885 acres allocated to Deccan Infrastructure and Land Holdings Limited, APIIC (2163 acres), HMDA (1,696 acres) and 761 acres from other government departments. Also, they requested CCLA to resume 35 acres allotted to private individuals.
When contacted, revenue minister Mahmood Ali said: “The cabinet will take a decision on land allotments and auctions done earlier. If needed, it will get reports from district collectors and act accordingly,” he added.
KTR said: “The government will revisit the land auctions and allotments in the interest of the state, but not for political vendetta or witch-hunt. If there are any anomalies or violations of norms, the government will look in it and deal as per law.”