HYDERABAD: Announcing that every parcel of land will receive a Bhudhaar number, similar to Aadhaar for individuals, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Monday said that the goal of his government was to create a land policy free of legal disputes.
“Surveys will be conducted and agricultural lands will be measured to mark boundaries,” Revanth stated after launching the Bhu Bharati portal at Shilpakala Vedika in Hyderabad. The portal will initially be implemented in four mandals as a pilot project.
During Indira Gandhi’s tenure, the Congress government introduced the Land Ceiling Act, through which lakhs of acres were taken from landlords and distributed to Dalits, tribals and other vulnerable communities, he recalled.
In the past, Patels and Patwaris managed land records. After the system was abolished, the records were transferred to tahsildars. The Revenue department has updated 99% of the land records, which are now available to the public. After the formation of Telangana, the then BRS government introduced the Dharani portal.
Calling the Dharani portal “problematic”, the chief minister said it became a source of distress for the public. He claimed that the murder of a tahsildar and a double murder in Ibrahimpatnam were linked to Dharani. “The previous government blamed Revenue staff and painted them as corrupt. But these officials protected land rights for decades. We do not want them to be seen as looters. Changing the laws and blaming officials was an attempt to seize lands,” Revanth stated.
Alleging that the public suffered because of the Dharani portal, he stated that this was why he had promised to abolish it completely.
“The Bhu Bharati Act is intended to safeguard land rights. The state government has introduced the Act after consultations and suggestions,” the CM stated, reiterating his administration’s objective of a litigation-free land policy.