Hyderabad: Deputation of a police force to Land Protection Cells in Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts to protect valuable government lands in both these districts from encroachments, remain only on paper more than a year after Telangana government issued orders to this effect.
TS issued orders on Oct. 20 last year directing Telangana DGP to depute 4 inspectors, 8 head constables and 32 constables from police department to Land Protection Cells with a view to provide dedicated police force to revenue staff in order to check encroachments and to provide police protection to revenue staff when they clear encroachments.
In the absence of a police force, revenue staff are being attacked by encroachers.
Revenue department brought to the notice of government that police personnel in the stations concerned were mostly preoccupied with regular work and dedicated police squads were required to check and clear encroachments, prevent dumping of rubble in Musi River and illegal constructions on the river bed.
Ranga Reddy collector M. Raghunandan Rao said the district revenue department has written to government and police department several times to depute a police force but it is still pending.
“A police force will be of great help to us to check encroachments. With lands in RR district becoming too expensive, there is increasing threat from encroachers,” he said.
The police department on the other hand expressed its inability to depute its staff for land protection cells citing severe shortage of police personnel in most of the stations.
The police department conveyed to Hyderabad and RR district administration that the government is soon taking up a fresh recruitment drive to fill thousands of vacancies in the police department and it would be able to depute its staff for the revenue department after this process is completed.
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