Efforts to make Telangana land dispute-free

Hyderabad: After completing Part-A of the drive to purify undisputed land records across the state, the government has shifted its focus to Part-B which involves disputed parcels of land.

As many as 17.9 lakh acres has been moved to Part-B during the Part-A drive. Of this, 7 lakh acres have been stuck in family and boundary disputes. Another 10 lakh acres are stuck in civil courts.

The government is forming special teams to resolve these disputes amicably by holding negotiations with disputing parties in order to achieve 100 per cent purification of land records so that electronic pattadar (ownership) passbooks can be issued to all land owners in the state from March 11.

The Part-B drive will commence soon and be completed by February-end. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has asked collectors of all districts in the recent collectors’ conference to focus on Part-B drive as it involves controversial and disputed lands.

He said the drive to purify land records will not serve the intended purpose if the ownership of such a huge expanse of 17.9 lakh acres of land is left unresolved.

Deputy Chief Minister and revenue minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali said, “The purification of land records has been taken up in TS after seven decades. The main purpose is making Telangana a ‘dispute-free land state’. Over 90 per cent of all land records have been purified. The balance 10 per cent disputed lands need to be resolved to achieve 100 per cent results.

Once this is done, TS will be the first state in the country with 100 per cent land records purified, with dispute-free, clear titles. This will attract investors who want to set up industries and other ventures.”

Revenue officials, however, are not so optimistic. They are concerned about the ‘land mafia’ as most of the disputed lands are in their possession. The officials have sought police protection while conducting negotiations over the disputed lands as the land mafia may attack them to block the process.

The Chief Minister has asked the superintendents of police of all districts to provide adequate police protection to revenue staff during the Part-B drive. For cases pending in civil courts with regard to encroachment of government lands, the state government has told its officials to try for out-of- court settlements.