Over 3 Lakh Applications For Land Regularisation

Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) Mohammed Mahmood Ali on Friday informed the Telangana Legislative Assembly that 3,00,036 applications had been received for the regularisation of land under illegal possession, as per GO Ms No 59.

Replying to a query during Question Hour, the Deputy CM said that the applications were under scrutiny and were being computerised.

He said that lands up to 125 sq yards would be regularised free of cost for poor people as per GO 58. He denied that the move would benefit rich men and land grabbers.

He said that the decision to regularise the encroachments was taken during the all-party meeting held on December 16, 2014. He said that the political parties had recommended the regularisation of encroachments free of cost in favour of poor families to a certain extent, and that others should be asked to pay for the regularisation.

The Deputy CM made it clear that no application had been cleared so far, and that a decision would be taken only after thorough verification.

He also assured that no Wakf or endowment lands would be regularised.

He said that the government was collecting the complete details of the possessors of the lands, and that there was no question of benefiting land sharks.

He said that the government would convene another meeting with the elected representatives after the completion of the process of the computerisation of the applications and their verification.

Congress MLA T Jeevan Reddy, MIM MLA Jaffer Hussain Meraj and other MLAs alleged that the move would benefit the land sharks more than the poor people.

They also alleged that the cost of regularisation was more than actual land value, and so people who were in possession of more than 125 sq yards would not be able to arrange for money to pay for the regularisation. (INN)