`50 crore worth greenbelt land sold out illegally Gross violations in 55 ventures

Khammam: The fraudulent sale of greenbelt in real estate ventures in the limits of Sthambadri Urban Development Authority continues unabated. Real estate owners are making money illegally by selling the green space in these ventures to gullible persons.

About 50 acres of green space worth `50 crore was registered in the name of such persons by projecting these as residential plots. Such irregularities took place in 55 ventures in SUDA limits. SUDA officials are avoiding taking any stringent action against these ventures.

SUDA is spread over 46 villages in seven mandals and 60 wards in Khammam Municipal Corporation. Ventures like the SS Real Estate, PNR Real Estate, Family Real Estate and Greenland ventures in SUDA limits have violated the greenbelt rules and sold out such reserved lands. Even the space shown for roads was also shown as plots and sold out.

Officials found only 16.34 acres of greenbelt in the ventures that were laid between 2014 and 2018.

About 20 acres of greenbelt land was made invisible during the time. Nearly 248 real estate ventures in SUDA limits were laid from 2019 till now. About 164 ventures were laid without obtaining permissions and 71 followed the guidelines.

These ventures showed 370 acres as greenbelt area but about 20 acres of these are missing.

Notices have been served on the ventures near Khammam Municipal Corporation, asking them not to sell the plots until they explained and cleared the SUDA objections.

Khammam Rural mandal had the highest such ventures, 74, followed by Raghunathapalem with 41. Chintakani mandal, adjacent to KMC, reported presence of 22 ventures with such issues. Kusumanchi mandal, 22km off Khammam town, had 18 defective ventures while there are three in Mudigonda and five in Konigerla mandal.

Thousands of plots were registered in the name of the real estate partners and they kept the plots with them to sell these in the boom period. The government asked SUDA officials to hand over the greenbelt lands while giving permissions to the layouts. Signboards should be erected in such greenbelt spaces.