Telangana silent over encroached land

​Hyderabad: The Telangana government has, of late, been maintaining stony silence over the issue of land that has been grabbed in and around Hyderabad in the recent decades though the Task Force Committee headed by the retired IAS officer, S K Sinha, submitted its report holding several high-level persons responsible for the land grabbing.

Immediately after assuming power, the TRS government formed the Task Force Committee on December 5, 2014 to submit a comprehensive report on land grabbing in Hyderabad and its surroundings within two years.

The Committee was also requested to put forward recommendations to dispose of the civil suits pending in the judicial courts expediently to enable the government to take back the land.

S K Sinha, who has an impeccable record as a straight forward officer, went through the thousands of records to confirm the role of top-level officers and the high-level persons.

The elaborate report articulates the land grabbing by various people with the active cooperation of higher officials which run in to thousands of acres in and around Hyderabad.

In one of its reports, the Committee elaborated how more than 2,000 acres belonging to freedom fighters situated in Patancheru and Ramachandrapuram mandals was usurped with the active cooperation of the higher officials who made several important files disappear after lining their pockets with ill-gotten wealth.

The Task Force stated in its report that a noted real estate firm encroached 400 acres of land assigned to the freedom fighters at Kolluru and Tellapur villages near BHEL with the help of forged papers. The real estate firm had even obtained signatures of the victims on white papers to get the land registered, it was pointed out.

The report also mentions the names of some bigwigs who usurped 144 acres of land at Ibrahimpatnam, 26 acres near Bata Singaram and 10 acres at Turkanjal.

The Task Force also made it clear that the 800 acres of land which was fenced on the two sides of the national highway between Hyderabad and Warangal belonged to the government. The report mentioned the names of persons, who were responsible for the alienation of land.

The Task Force Committee, while suggesting taking back the government land, recommended action to be taken against the officials who destroyed the important files relating to the land.

Interestingly, the names of MLAs, former MLAs, several deputy collectors and RDOs against whom the action needed to be initiated, are included in the list presented by the committee.

However, even six months after the report was submitted by S K Sinha, no action was initiated against any person or to take back the land, raising suspicions among the discerning persons.

A higher official, who is part of the task force committee, told The Hans India that many of the officials mentioned in the report are presently working at various higher positions.

Recalling the government had failed to take any action against the persons mentioned in the report, he said that the government is not taking a daring step to punish the guilty.

Farmers’ leader Sarmapalli Malla Reddy demanded that the government publicise the reports submitted by the SK Sinha Committee.

Padmanabha Reddy, secretary of Forum for Good Governance, opined that it would do no good to the government if the report is kept in the dark.

He suggested the government that the land could be taken back to construct two-bedroom houses for the poor. He also demanded action against the guilty.

Meanwhile, the tenure of the Task Force Committee ended on December 5, 2016. However, there is a lot to be done to unearth more irregularities.

In spite of the anticipation by everybody that the term of the committee would be extended, there is no action from the government.

SK Sinha is not deterred by the non-extension of the tenure. He is continuing his work of going through the records meticulously.

Donti Narasimha Reddy, social activist, opined that the government might have stepped back over taking action against the guilty mentioned in the report.

He demanded action as per the recommendations of the committee and its tenure should be extended immediately.