HYDERABAD: The state government on Friday announced that it will place a draft bill on comprehensive land administration in the public domain to take suggestions from all stakeholders before tabling it in the Legislative Assembly.
Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy made this announcement in the Assembly during the short discussion on “Telangana Land Rights & Reforms”.
Soon after the announcement, the state government made available the Telangana Record of Rights Bill, 2024 (Draft), a bill to consolidate and amend the law relating to the record of the rights in Telangana. The state has appealed to citizens to send emails to ror2024-rev@telangana.gov.in or send a post to the Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA) detailing the suggestions and recommendations to the draft bill by August 23.
In his opening remarks on the discussion, the revenue minister accused the previous BRS government of mortgaging the Telangana lands to a foreign company by handing over the Dharani portal, Integrated Land Records Management System to it.
“For the past 75 years, the laws that have benefited the farmers have come under our Congress rule in our Indiramma Rajyam. And now, our government will also bring good legislation to solve the problems of the farmers and remove them from their land without any complications,” he said.
“Ravanasura took an avatar with 10 heads. Today this Dharani, which was started with three heads, took an avatar with 30 three heads,” the minister said.
Secret portal
The minister also said that when he discussed the Dharani issues with officials, it was revealed that the Dharani was a “secret” portal as even the application approving authorities cannot see what they have approved once they digitally signed. He said that about 18 lakh acres of land belonging to marginalised sections was put in Part B and they weren’t given their rights. He said that they have brought reforms in Dharani portal by bringing in a lot of changes.
The ruling party members have also found fault with the previous BRS government for abolishing the VRO and VRA system, making the revenue system highly complicated.
However, BRS MLA Palla Rajeshwar Reddy defended the decisions to introduce Dharani portal and to abolish the VRO and VRA system. He said that they have freed farmers from corrupt practices. He claimed that the then government had brought land reforms giving the land titles.
AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi expressed concerns over the public land being alienated. He noted that the high court gave a verdict to take possession of 800 acres from IMG Bharat.
Aadhaar-like Bhudhaar cards
The state government has proposed to assign Bhudhaar, a unique identification number to land parcels. The state government has proposed to assign both temporary and permanent Bhudhaar and also suggested a Bhudhaar card. “Every parcel of land to which the Act applies shall be assigned automatically a Bhudhaar, in such manner as may be prescribed: Provided that the manner of the assigning permanent Bhudhaar shall take into consideration the geographical location of the parcel of the land, its shape determined by the coordinates of its corner points, ownership as per the Record of Rights,” Section 9 of the draft copy read.