Hyderabad: Inadequate land stewardship by the Telangana state institutions, the panchayat taj and rural development departments, has led to the encroachment of 27 acres and 20 guntas. The market value of the total land is Rs 247.50 crores. An audit has observed this as a failure of these departments to ensure timely protection of land. The audit also observed that the panchayat raj department did not have records detailing the inventory of land in their possession, the absence of which rendered land stewardship difficult.
This resulted in encroachment of the PRI lands, on which few claims of ownership was made. GPs did not play a proactive role in obtaining their legitimate share of land in the form of open spaces from the approved layouts.
On the other hand, the transfer of PRI lands was done without protecting the financial interests of PRIs. Land was transferred to other departments either without the collection of a compensation or was given free of cost in violation of the state government's rules.
As per rules, a vigilance and enforcement wing has to be constituted in the office of commissioner, panchayat raj. This wing has to monitor the activities of district level cells formed for the protection of land or properties. The audit noticed that no records were maintained to support the formation of a separate wing in the office of commissioner, Panchayat Raj.
