Lokayukta to Hear Arguments on 11,000 Acres of Mokhasa Lands

Kakinada:The Lokayukta would hear arguments in relation to ownership for 11,638 acres of Mokhasa lands in the Agency area at Rampachodavaram on Saturday.

The tribals are fighting for the lands they have been cultivating for decades.

Tribal farmers in Vadapalli (in possession of 258.12.hectares) Nimmalapalaem (355.35 ha), Daaramadugula (331.54.5 ha), Pandirimamidi 311.04.5 ha), Sirigindalapadu (181.77 ha) and other villages in Rampachodavaram mandal and Kuramgondi 327.42 ha) and Nellipudi (2946.69 ha) villages in Gangavaram mandal are cultivating the lands to an extent of 11,638.49 acres under Nellipudi Mokhasa in erstwhile East Godavari district.

These farmers had repeatedly approached the authorities for grant of Ryotwari Patta for their cultivated lands, but in vain.

Adivasi MahaSabha legal adviser Inapurapu Suryanarayana said the Adivasi MahaSabha filed a petition before the district collector, EG District at Kakinada on 22, June 2020, in this respect. The collector directed the sub-collector, Rampachodavarm, to inquire into the subject and take necessary action.

Suryanarayana alleged that the Rampachodavaram sub-collector did not take any action. He said the issues of Mokhasa villages were not settled earlier under Regulation 2/69 (the AP Muttas (abolition and conversion into Ryotwari) regulation 1/89 (Amendment to Regulation 2/69).

The Andhra Pradesh government, via GO Ms 1603 dated 4-11-1989, appointed the assistant collector of Rampachodavaram to be the settlement officer and the mandal revenue officer of Rampachodavaram /Gangavaram in their respective jurisdiction as special tahsildars, for taking possession of the Mokhasa villages on behalf of the government.

Suryanarayana said the system of Moksha lands and Enam lands was abolished in the 1970s, but a Raja claimed the lands belonged to him and approached courts. The courts dismissed his petitions, saying the Raja was not the Mokhasadar of the Nellipudi and Kuramgondi villages of Gangavaram mandal.

He alleged that the Mokhasa ancestor submitted certificates about the land, but the police found the certificates were fake.

However, the Rampachodavaram sub-collector’s office said that the office copy of the certificate was not found in the mandal revenue officer’s office. The then mandal revenue officer, B Bhaskara Rao, stated that he had not issued the said certificate and confirmed that it carried a forged signature with a fake seal.

Suryanarayana said that based on the recommendations of the Justice Punnaiah Commission, the AP Revenue (P&C) department issued GO-Rt-694 dated 25-10-2001, which said the authorities must arrange a separate grievance cell in the sub-collector’s office to solve the land disputes of the SCs and STs as early as possible.

“There is no special wing to deal with these land disputes and the GO was violated,” Suryanarayana said and requested the Lokayukhtha to hand over the pattas of Mokhasa lands to the tribal farmers.