Hyderabad: Telugu Desam president N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday came out strongly against the land mafia, which he said was spreading its tentacles in Hyderabad, and sought stringent action against them.
Expressing solidarity with Neeraja Rao, who fought against the encroachment of her family land on Road No. 2 in Jubilee Hills, allegedly by former Kadapa mayor Ravindranath Reddy, Naidu, who visited the property, said that he had come to congratulate her.
The TD chief, who returned from a two-day tour of Praja Garjana in Tirupati and Ongole, made a surprise visit to the property which was encroached and where demolition is being carried out by GHMC on the directions of the AP High Court.
Ravindranath Reddy has denied any connection with the land in question.
“She fought against the power and the mafia with sheer determination. She is a role model for others. It is sickening to see Ravindranath Reddy’s people spreading their tentacles across the city. It is shocking that IAS officer Navin Mittal extended cooperation in the encroachment,” Naidu charged.
He said that unscrupulous elements were trying to grab government and private land and if anyone protests, rowdies enter the scene and threaten the land owners.
“This isn’t an isolated incident. Four acres of land has been grabbed in Manikonda, some in Tirupati and 750 acres of forest land near Idupulapaya. When the Telugu Desam had taken up the issue, the late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy surrendered some of the land,” he alleged, adding, “Thanks to YSR, people are scared of the very word of Kadapa. The TD government controlled land mafia, rowdyism and other anti-social activities.”
Neeraja Rao, meanwhile, explained how she had received no support from the authorities when her land had been grabbed.
“It’s shocking that the administration turned a mute spectator to the mafia anarchy in the city. I ran from pillar to post, met IAS officer Navin Mittal and GHMC official Dhananjay Reddy, but got no support. These officials are a blot on the society,” she said.
