Land records update turns curse for farmers

Nalgonda: The negligence and corruption of officials in the Revenue Department regarding the updating of land records have become a curse for farmers. In rural areas, illiterate small and marginal poor farmers lack awareness about their land rights, which are documented in revenue records.

After the formation of the Telangana government, various reforms were introduced to update land records, but their implementation has proven to be challenging. The Revenue Department has been conducting land record update programmes for years, but land issues have been increasing by the day.

One major reason for this is the abolishment of the village-level maskur system and the direct transfer of administrative responsibilities to mandal Tahsildars, Revenue Giridars, and additional girdhavars. As a result, in some mandals, farmers are filing applications online through Dharani for land issues, but there is not enough staff to conduct field inspections and update the land records accurately.

Experts familiar with the Revenue Department and land records are of the opinion that the relevant officials are failing in updating the records properly.

In The Hans India examination of land record updating in Nalgonda district several discrepancies were found. For instance, in Inupamula village of Ketepally Mandal in the district, during the national highway expansion, land was acquired, but the authorities failed to promptly register this in the revenue records, turning the issue into a curse for innocent farmers. For example, in Survey Number 47, the land acquired for the highway was not recorded as government land, leading to complaints about neighbouring farmers encroaching on the land. This issue is pending with authorities.

Senior officials instructed field staff to fix deadlines for updating records, but during the process, an NRI named Lingampally Nagalakshmi’s name was registered for 88 survey numbers; even though she is only reported to own 3 to 4 acres in the village outskirts. Her name was mistakenly registered in the records for approximately 50 acres, including government land, reflecting the irresponsibility of the officials. Despite issuing notices to Nagalakshmi in August 2023 to cancel the extra land registered under her name, the issue remains unresolved.

Additionally, land was not acquired for the AMRP Canal, yet survey numbers were wrongly marked in revenue records as belonging to the canal.