Distributing appointment letters to 5,106 newly-recruited Grama Palana Officers (GPOs) on Friday
Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Friday accused the previous BRS government of deliberately dismantling the village-level revenue administration to facilitate large-scale land grabbing through the Dharani portal.
Distributing appointment letters to 5,106 newly-recruited Grama Palana Officers (GPOs) on Friday in the presence of revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, the Chief Minister said the Congress government had revived the grassroots revenue system after a gap of five years with the objective of restoring credibility and efficiency in land administration.
Revanth Reddy alleged that the BRS regime branded village revenue officers (VROs) as “dacoits and thieves” and scrapped the VRO/VRA system, fearing that their detailed knowledge of land records in each village would obstruct attempts to encroach upon prime lands.
He remarked that it was unjust to dismantle an entire system simply because of mistakes by a few individuals. Drawing comparisons, he said if a house had rats, it should not be set on fire to get rid of them. According to him, the abolition of the grassroots system was nothing but an attempt to cover up the misdeeds of the previous BRS rulers.
The Chief Minister reiterated that his government had kept its promise made during the 2023 Assembly polls to throw the Dharani system into the “Bay of Bengal” and replace it with the Bhu Bharati Act, if voted to power. He asserted that while Dharani created hardships for landowners, Bhu Bharati was designed to address and resolve them.
Stressing the importance of the new GPOs, he urged them to act as bridges between the government and poor farmers and ensure the speedy resolution of land-related disputes, including issues concerning sada bainama (unregistered land transactions).
He told the recruits that this was not just a job but also a matter of self-respect, giving them an opportunity to erase the stigma cast on village revenue staff by the previous BRS regime.
He reminded them of Telangana’s long history of struggles over land, citing the sacrifices of Komaram Bheem, Chakali Ailamma, and Ravi Narayan Reddy, as well as the Bhoodan movement led by Vedire Ramachandra Reddy, who distributed thousands of acres to the poor.
He also recalled how former prime minister P.V. Narasimha Rao introduced the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act to ensure redistribution of assigned land to the poor. Revanth Reddy said that attempts by the BRS government to reverse this legacy through Dharani amounted to betrayal of Telangana’s historic movements.
The Chief Minister said that the Dharani portal had caused widespread distress, driving farmers into desperation, including incidents where farmers attacked officials out of sheer frustration. He cited cases in Ibrahimpatnam and Sircilla during the BRS regime when people attacked revenue staff with petrol, noting that such violent episodes were not the fault of revenue staff but a direct consequence of the flawed policies like Dharani of the BRS leadership.
Calling the Dharani system a “virus” that infected land administration, he exhorted the new GPOs to restore trust in government institutions by implementing Bhu Bharati in both letter and spirit. He urged them to work with integrity, resolve the grievances of the poor, and prove wrong the accusations that once painted revenue staff as exploiters. He said the responsibility now lies with the new officers to wipe away the scars of the past left by BRS and ensure that no action of theirs brings disrepute to the present Congress government.
