Harish Rao Alleges Bhu Bharati Scam, Seeks SIT Probe

BRS leader, MLA and former minister Harish Rao today accused several Congress leaders and senior officials of involvement in irregularities related to the Bhu Bharati portal, and called on Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the alleged scam.

He alleged that applicants had been paying the full registration fee for agricultural land, but through manipulation of the edit option on the Bhu Bharati portal, only 10% of the fee was being remitted to the government, while the remaining 90% was being misappropriated by intermediaries.

Addressing a gathering at the BRS office, Rao said that such irregularities were continuing across 37 mandals, yet intelligence agencies appeared to be unaware of the ongoing scam, which reflected the "incompetence" of the Congress government.

The BRS MLA said that it was only when the media highlighted such issues that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy became aware of them.

He also alleged that to shield those involved, a few operatives were arrested merely as a superficial measure.

"Revanth Reddy is setting up commissions and SITs to portray opposition leaders negatively and create difficulties for them. Why is the Congress government not ordering an investigation into the Bhu Bharati scam?" Rao asked, and demanded the immediate formation of an SIT to ensure that those responsible face strict action.

He also alleged that large tracts of land had been deliberately classified as prohibited lands and later cleared after illegal collections. According to him, several officials, from Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy to mandal-level bureaucrats, were involved in these irregularities. He claimed that the alleged fraud had now spread to nearly one crore acres of land.

He criticised the Congress government for failing to act despite observations by the High Court, and demanded the release of a white paper on the status of prohibited lands in the State.

Rao also said that since the Congress government came to power, new rules requiring land sellers to submit affidavits on bond paper had prevented farmers from completing Sada Bainama registrations.

"The requirement for bond paper should be withdrawn immediately, and justice should be done to 8.92 lakh farmers," he said.

He said that while in Opposition, the Congress had promised to process LRS applications free of cost, but fees were now being collected from applicants. He alleged that a fee of Rs 300 was being charged for issuing passbooks during registration, and yet not a single passbook had been issued even after six months.