Bhoodan lands of poor occupied
The lands have now been encroached
Hyderabad: Nearly 1,050 acres of Bhoodan lands, worth hundreds of crores of rupees on the city outskirts, out of a total of 6,625 acres gifted to the landless poor, have been occupied by others.
About 65 years ago Acharya Vinobha Bhave started the Bhoodan movement from Pochampally in Nalgonda district and covered the entire country, as a voluntary means of transferring surplus lands to the landless poor.
The lands have now been encroached. The TS government, which abolished the Bhoodan Board in July 2014, constituted a task force headed by retired IAS officer Shyam Kumar Singh to probe into the irregularities in land allotments.
The task force submitted its report on Thursday. Sources said the report revealed that the Bhoodan board members had colluded with encroachers and passed on hundreds of acres of costly land to private individuals to set up colleges, farmhouses, resorts etc. The government is planning to file criminal cases against them.
The Bhoodan board says it has 607 acres in Rajendranagar mandal, 422 in Vikarabad, 4,581 in Chevella, 7,376 in Saroornagar and 704 acres in Malkajgiri.
As per revenue records, there are 75 acres in Rajendranagar, 409 in Vikarabad, 4,135 in Chevella, 5,824 in Saroorngar and 577 acres in Malkajgiri.
The inquiry found 540 acres encroached in Rajendranagar mandal, 124 in Vikarabad, 127 in Chevella, 1,015 in Saroornagar and 46 acres in Malkajgiri.
The task force, which took up field-level inspection, found that there were only 10,717 acres of Bhoodan lands on the city outskirts. Of this, 6,625 acres has been gifted to landless poor.
But only 4,395 acres was with the landless poor, and 1,049 acres had changed hands. About 1,923 acres have been encroached upon and 400 acres were under litigation.
The government is expected to table the inquiry report in the ensuing monsoon session.