Revenue Minister Dr N Raghuveera Reddy on Thursday admitted that there were irregularities in the allotment of land for different projects, including Vapic.
Briefing the media about the performance of Prajahitham programme at the State Secretariat here, Raghuveera Reddy said that there were some irregularities in the allotment and usage of land given for different due to inadequate policies and absence of a mechanism. However, he said in view of the past experiences the State Government would soon frame new guidelines for the allotment of lands in the State. He announced that a Land Management Authority would be constituted soon which would monitor the allotment and usage of land by different companies.
The Revenue Minister said that the government could not review the allotments done for the Vanpic project as all the files related with the project were in the possession of the Central Bureau of Investigation. However, defending Roads and Buildings Minister B Dharmana Prasad Rao, he said that one minister alone could not be held responsible for the collective decisions taken by the Cabinet. He said Prasad Rao would get a clean chit in a court of law. He described Prasad Rao’s decision to resign from the cabinet as ‘hasty’ and said that he was advised against giving resignation by his colleagues.
Dr Raghuveera Reddy also ruled out his resignation on the Vanpic issue stating that he was holding the Agriculture portfolio and Vanpic was a collective decision of the State Cabinet.
The minister also announced that the State Government has decided to double the freedom fighters’ pension from Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000 with immediate effect. Further, the government has also made efforts to provide tamper proof pattedar passbooks with 11 security features. He said that such passbooks would be available in Warangal, Karimangar, Adilabad, Prakasam and West Godavari districts on pilot basis.
Raghuveera Reddy said that the government would give one lakh acres of land under the sixth phase of free distribution of land. Of this, about 86,000 acres of land and 60,000 poor families have already been identified as beneficiaries. (INN)