Congress Shielding 373-Acre Land Grab, Alleges Harish Rao

Hyderabad: BRS former minister T. Harish Rao on Sunday accused senior Congress leaders of orchestrating a land grab of 373 acres of government property in Nadergul, Survey No. 613, valued at around Rs 7,000 crore. He charged that the Congress government was shielding politically connected firms that were attempting illegal control despite repeated High Court rulings affirming the land as state-owned.

Addressing the media at Telangana Bhavan, the BRS leader cited a series of legal protections. He said the land was declared government property in 2008 by then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy and upheld by the RDO in 2005, the Supreme Court in 2017, and a High Court division bench on October 13, 2022. Harish Rao said firms such as Alpha, Omega, and Unitech were barred under Land Ceiling Act violations, yet encroachments persisted even as the Supreme Court had not granted any stay and the next hearing was due on April 7.

Harish Rao alleged that poor farmers, including women cultivators like Kausalya and Mamatha who have tilled the land for four decades, are facing threats bouncers by the alleged land grabbers, and police cases, and that their borewells were bing damaged by anti-social elements. He claimed that revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy’s family was linked to Shilpa Infra, which he said had shifted branding from Kohinoor Group in the disputed land case.

He criticised the HYDRAA’s inaction on encroachments affecting 17 acres in Lachammakunta’s full tank level and feeder channels, warning of ecological damage to downstream water bodies. Targeting Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Harish Rao questioned the Congress’ shift from protecting cultivators to enabling land grabbing after coming to power in 2023.

Harish Rao said complaints to the RDO, MRO, collector, and HYDRAA since March 9 have been ignored. He said that BRS MLAs would conduct a site visit on Monday if no action is taken.