Andhra Pradesh CM plans Gujarat-like legislation on land grabbing

Amaravati, July 15 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Monday said the state will soon bring the AP Land Grabbing Act, on the lines of a similar legislation in Gujarat, to deal with land grabbing.

Once the proposed law comes into force, those who illegally occupy any land have to prove themselves that the land belongs to them, he said

He alleged that 1.75 lakh acres of land worth a whopping Rs 35,000 crore was illegally occupied during the five-year rule of the YSR Congress Party.

He claimed that the natural resources of the state were completely looted during the YSRCP rule.

Releasing a white paper on the exploitation of natural resources by the previous government, the Chief Minister said that lands, mines and red sanders were totally exploited using ‘official terrorism’.

He said stringent action would be taken against all those who indulged in such illegal activities as plundering natural resources and looting people and government property.

Calling upon the people, particularly the affected, to come out openly and fearlessly to lodge complaints on land grabbing and other atrocious activities of the previous government, Chandrababu Naidu said a toll-free number is being provided to all those who want to file any such complaints.

He said that land scams have taken place on a massive scale in the previous government and added that the looting is more than the information presently available with the government now. 

“In fact, these ‘financial terrorists’ had chosen an innovative system of exploitation while the plundering of natural resources in Visakhapatnam, Ongole, Chittoor and Tirupati is a case study,” the Chief Minister said.

The land allocated by him earlier to Ramanaidu Studios in the port city of Visakhapatnam was illegally reclassified as residential property only to grab a share in that land, the Chief Minister said, adding that this case is currently pending before the Supreme Court. 

The former MP of Visakhapatnam, MVV Satyanarayana, made every attempt to illegally occupy the 12.51 acres of land allotted to an old age home while Sarada Peetham was allocated land at merely Rs 1 lakh per acre, he pointed out.

Listing out other such illegal occupation of lands in several places, the Chief Minister regretted that lands worth hundreds of crores of rupees in Ongole and Tirupati too were grabbed.

He regretted that 8,086 acres of land which was meant for distribution to the landless was grabbed by those who are not eligible for land allotment at all. Assigned lands were no exception, he said such lands were commuted into freehold properties by threatening the officials. 

"People who purchased these lands will certainly have to go to jail," the Chief Minister said.

He made it clear that all such lands which were grabbed by the YSRCP leaders would be handed over back to the affected original owners. The Land Titling Act was brought in claiming that it is part of the NITI Ayog guidelines which is not at all implemented in any part of the country, Chandrababu said. 

"This is the reason why we have repealed the Act," the Chief Minister added.

Pointing out that Rs 653 crore was wasted in the name of issuing fresh passbooks after land resurvey, the Chief Minister announced that the resurvey taken up by the previous government would be withdrawn.

He alleged that the 'Red Sanders' stocks were completely looted by bringing down the vigilance and forest staff strength. Similarly, quarries were illegally grabbed threatening the owners, he said.

The Chief Minister said that the less said the better about the sand mafia and claimed that the state suffered a loss of Rs 9,750 crore due to loss of revenue from minerals.