Telangana Govt to Appoint 6,000 Surveyors, 10,954 Village Officers

Hyderabad, Nalgonda: Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy on Monday announced that the state government will soon appoint 6,000 licensed surveyors. The surveyors will undertake extensive land surveys and address disputes under the newly introduced Bhu Bharati Act.

He said the government will also appoint 10,954 Grama Palana Officers (GPOs) in the first week of May to revitalise village-level revenue governance. This follows the scrapping of the village revenue officer (VRO) and village revenue assistant (VRA) system by the previous BRS government in 2020.

Speaking at awareness seminars on the newly launched Bhu Bharati Act held in Chandampet mandal (Nalgonda district) and Ibrahimpatnam mandal (Ranga Reddy district), Srinivas Reddy said farmers can have their land disputes settled free of cost under the Bhu Bharati Act, which replaced the Dharani portal of the BRS government. He noted that the Dharani portal had enabled land accumulation by a few and caused many farmers to lose their land.

The minister informed that the pilot project in four mandals on the new Bhu Bharati Act would be completed by the month-end. From May 1, each district will see one mandal brought under the pilot scheme, and backwards regions like Chandampet mandal are also under consideration for inclusion.

"From June 2, the Telangana State Formation Day, we aim to permanently resolve agricultural land issues in these pilot mandals," Srinivas Reddy announced. Starting on the same day, Tahsildar-level officials will begin village visits to accept land-related applications in all remaining villages. He said farmers would not have to pay any fees for these services.

Highlighting the technological transformation of land records, Srinivas Reddy said that each landowner would receive a Bhudhar card, similar to an Aadhaar card, with a unique identification number for every land parcel. He stated that from now on, survey maps would be mandatory for all land registrations, addressing gaps in the system that previously allowed unrecorded transactions.

The minister touched on the issue of ‘sada bainamas’ (unregistered land agreements) which were not recognised under the Dharani portal. He assured that valid applications out of the 9.26 lakh pending cases would be processed and resolved through Bhu Bharati.

"The Bhu Bharati Act was brought in to wipe away the tears of the poor," the minister declared, urging officials to diligently implement the Act and ensure it delivers meaningful results.

Srinivas Reddy said pattas for deforested agricultural land would be processed without farmers needing to visit sub-registrar offices. Farmers cultivating such lands will be granted titles after verification. The Act also promises redressal for farmers who were displaced or affected due to issues like land de-limitation and resettlement complications during the Dharani era.

Devarakonda MLA Nenavath Balu Naik urged surveys and additional Indiramma housing for tribal cultivators, while MLCs Nellikanti Satyam and Kethavath Shanker Naik welcomed measures to correct cultivation-period errors and village-blocking issues under the previous system. Collector Ila Tripathi and local farmers attended the event.