HYDERABAD: Days after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had asked the officials concerned to take back lands allotted to various projects by previous governments, but not being used for the intended purpose, Andhra Pradesh government too has decided to do a similar exercise.
AP Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu on Sunday announced that the government would take back the lands allotted for setting up industries if they have not yet been used for the intended purpose.
Speaking to reporters here, Ramakrishnudu said the government is keen on repossessing the lands from various companies where promised projects have not come up so far.
“Not only lands, but also mines that were allotted to private companies by previous governments will be taken back if those mines are not used for the purpose of setting up industries,” he said.
According to the Finance Minister, AP needs vast tracts of government land for constructing the new capital of the State. It also needs land for setting up national-level educational institutions across the region. Hence, the government is keen on taking back the unused lands from industrialists to meet the future needs of the state.
In fact, the AP government, a couple of days ago, had appointed a group of ministers (GoM) to review all cases where the state lost either property or revenue due to the decisions of the previous Congress governments. It might cancel several land allotments and mining leases given during the regimes of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, K Rosaiah and N Kiran Kumar Reddy. Yanamala Ramakrishnudu is heading the GoM.
Deputy Chief Minister KE Krishnamurthy too, on Sunday, made it clear that the AP government would probe the irregularities in land allotments done by the previous Congress governments. He made this remark here at the Secretariat after assuming charge.