10 lakh acres of patta lands to soon be out of Dharani \'prohibited list\'

HYDERABAD: Nearly 10 lakh acres out of 15 lakh acres of patta lands across the state that figure in the 'prohibited properties list' on Dharani portal are all set to be freed from the list soon. The state government has initiated the process to remove these lands from the prohibited list.

Official sources said the chief secretary Somesh Kumar and officials from the office of Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA) are holding meetings with collectors of respective districts to obtain inputs about patta lands that could be removed from the portal’s prohibited list.

Sources said that Somesh Kumar and CCLA director Rajat Kumar Saini are holding meetings in batches with around five to six district collectors every day.
The state government launched a massive revenue records cleansing drive in 2017 under ‘Telangana Land Records Updation Project’ (TLRUP) and uploaded fresh records on Dharani portal. However, it listed nearly 15 lakh acres across the state under 'prohibited list' after anomalies were found in their records. This has caused severe hardships to landowners/farmers and buyers.

Landowners have been running around offices of collectors, RDOs and MROs for the last five years to get the issue resolved but in vain. The government also made few attempts to resolve the issues by asking landowners to submit applications online through Mee Seva centres. The government received nearly 2.50 lakh applications in the last three years. They all remain pending.

The CS and CCLA officials have now started taking steps to resolve the pending applications and obtain reports from collectors on lands that could be removed from the prohibited list, sources added.

As per rules, lands belonging to state and central government, endowments, wakf board, bhoodan lands, grama kantam, government offices, lands acquired by state and central governments for various purposes, railway tracks, laying of roads, water bodies, forest, ceiling and assigned lands should figure in 'prohibited list'. But the revenue officials listed nearly 15 lakh acres of patta lands owned by private individuals in the list.