Kakani aides eyeing precious lands at V-Chalam: Somireddy

Nellore: Telugu Desam politburo member Somireddy Chandramohan Reddy alleged that aides of Agriculture Minister K Govardhan Reddy are eying highly precious Venkatahchalam Seethamma Chalivendra lands. Addressing media at the party office here on Thursday along with party leaders, he said that the Tahsildar of Venkatachalam started transferring lands in the name of benamis of the minister.

Stating that the lands worth hundreds of crores of rupees, Somireddy said the Collector was unable to act against the land grabbers despite lodging complaints. He said there were around 300 acres of land close to NH-16 and people in the old days handed it over to Seethamma Chalivendram for running the roadside asylum for travelers and subsequently they were taken over by the endowments department.

He said some devotees approached the High Court earlier on rights over lands and it confirmed that this land belongs to the endowments department after duly verifying records. Even some structures were demolished earlier by the endowments and revenue departments with the help of police personnel.

Somireddy charged that the YSR Congress leaders prepared to grab this precious land after coming to power to an extent of 75 acres close to the NH which costs around Rs 3 crore an acre. They initially grabbed Rs 60 crore worth of land on the highway at Kakuturu and some people were booked in the scam except Tahsildar IS Prasad. Now, he blamed the same Tahsildar supporting these grabbing gangs to encroach on the land.

"The Tahsildar has been tampering with records and registering the land in the name of aides of Minister Govardhan Reddy even though records of the endowments department are showing that they belong to the department since 2020. A prime aide of the minister has rented the land for dumping and getting Rs 2 lakh per month. 7.5 acres of the land has been converted for Jagananna Housing Colony and the beneficiaries were provided land pattas though they were legally not fit for such government layouts," he said.

He said the district collector was playing the role of spectator on the directions of Minister Kakani and ruling party leader Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy. He said the Tahsildar was facing allegations against irregularities of around 500 acres. Party leaders B Ravichandra, SK Abdul Aziz and B Surendra were present.