Hyderabad, August 07: Andhra Pradesh Revenue Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao today told the Andhra Pradesh Assembly that he would conduct a meeting with all the floor leaders of the House to discuss alleged encroachments of Bhoodan lands in the state.
Replying to a question, raised by P Shankar Rao (Cong) during Question Hour, he said the Andhra Pradesh government has constituted the Bhoodan Yagna Board in the year 1965 to monitor distribution of lands to landless poor.
The Opposition TDP members demanded an inquiry by a House committee, alleging that lands were encroached by land grabbers.
However, on the suggestion of Deputy Speaker N Manohar, the Minister agreed for a meeting with all the floor leaders of the House.
When a Congress member asked whether it was a fact that the land value of Bhoodan lands had increased abnormally after a Greater Hyderabad notification, the Minister said the value of the lands might have gone up, depending upon market forces. But in the case of Bhoodan lands, there was a condition of non-alienability and hence the market speculations did not cause abnormal effect on the lands, which could not be alienated like private lands.
The Minister said out of 1.50 lakh acres of land available with the Board, it had distributed 1.10 lakh acres to landless poor. When the Congress member alleged that 77,000 acres of land in Ranga Reddy district were encroached by land grabbers in collusion with the Board members, he said some case of land encroachments and sales had come to the notice of the Board.
However, he said even the Board or the beneficiaries had no right to sell the lands given to them.
He said writ petitions had been filed in the Andhra Pradesh High Court against land grabbers and 58 cases were pending in the court for disposal.
—–Agencies