VISAKHAPATNAM: Roads and Buildings Minister Ch Ayyanna Patrudu on Friday said that many influential land grabbers had fraudulently prepared forged documents and mortgaged the same to various public sector banks to raise over Rs 190 crore. With the Special Investigation Team (SIT) appealing to the political leaders to share evidence pertaining to the tampering of revenue records in Visakhapatnam, the minister submitted some key details to the probe team.
“I have submitted my version to the SIT. I have complete faith that the SIT probe will bring all culprits to book,” said Ayyanna after submitting his version to the SIT. The minister said that he was suspecting that over 1,700 acres had been encroached in the district.
“I have submitted some key evidences to the SIT on how some people have fraudulently encroached 270 acres of government land and claimed compensation to the tune of Rs12 lakh per acre for the AP Med Tech Zone, which is coming up at Pedagantyada. I will also meet the SIT officials again on July 19 to submit some more documents on the land scams,” he added.
It was the R&B minister who accused government machinery, police and political leaders of being hand in glove with the land mafia in a public forum. he also pointed fingers to some of the TDP leaders, without naming them. However, on Friday, he came down heavily on YSRC president YS Jaganmohan Reddy for finding fault with the SIT investigation.
“The Leader of Opposition had termed the CBI as the Congress Bureau of Investigation when the agency started investigating into his illegal assets and now he wants the same CBI to inquire into the lands scam,” he said.
‘Extend time to file plaints’
Meanwhile, BJP MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju said that the decision by the SIT to close the public interaction was not in favour of a clean and un-biased inquiry into the land grab allegations.
“The decision of the SIT to close the door for public complaints on July 15 and for politicians on July 20 is not correct. They should extend the time by at least another 15 days. I feel that more people will submit details of the land grab, if given more time, “ he said.
The BJP MLA also added that he would meet the authorities concerned, seeking an extension on last date of receiving complaints. “It would be better if the government permits SIT to look into not only to the tampering of land records, but also to the allegations related to the land pooling.”
I have submitted evidences to SIT on how some people have encroached 270 acres of govt land and claimed compensation of J12 lakh per acre for the AP Med Tech Zone. I will submit some more documents on July 19 Ch Ayyanna Patrudu, R & B minister