Tirupati: Prohibited lands under section 22A stirs brawl between political parties

Tirupati: The ruling YSR Congress and a united opposition, including the Telugu Desam, Jana Sena, the Left parties and the Congress, were engaged in a political fight and street protests after some 3,000 acres of land in Tirupati region were listed on the prohibitory list under Section 22A.

 While the united opposition accused the government of failing to protect the interests of the common man, YSRC MLA Bhumana Karunakar claimed that the issue was being resolved. The stamps and registrations department has been directed to allow land registrations to proceed without difficulty, he said.

In response, the Rayalaseema Porata Samithi convener Naveen Kumar Reddy alleged that the ruling party was trying to instill fear among the voters in Tirupati by placing 3,000 acres of land on the prohibitory list.

 "Out of the 3,000 acres, only a few acres belong to the TTD, whereas a majority is private land and properties that were wrongly placed in the prohibitory list. This is a huge scam perpetrated by touts and brokers supported by the YSRC. They are eager to collect large sums from the landowners by pledging to remove the curbs on the trade of lands and properties under 22A," he alleged.

 CPM city secretary T. Subramanyam said at a conference of the united opposition here on Tuesday that a plot was hatched by ruling party leaders to make financial gains before the next general elections.

 "The 3,000 acres of land were added to the prohibited list on orders from the ruling party leaders. Now they're shedding crocodile tears and pretending that they were not in the know of things,” he observed.

 Giving a clarification, YSRC MLA Bhumana said that there was some uncertainty over the property registrations in Tirupati region and that some of the victims had approached him five days ago. "I spoke to the inspector general of the stamps and registrations department, as well as the registrar office in Tirupati and the TTD authorities, and asked them to resolve the issues of registrations immediately," he said.

The MLA said TTD JEO, V. Veerabrahmam, wrote a letter to the state endowments department, requesting that the problem be resolved quickly. He lambasted the Telugu Desam for trying to confuse the public over the issue. "I have always worked in public interest, never for my own gains. Some selfish politicians are trying to mislead the public for political advantage. I urge the public not to believe in such propaganda. I would fight for the people," Bhumana stated.

Meanwhile, the united opposition decided to constitute a forum to tackle the issue. They elected retired teacher S. Sudhakar to lead the forum and CPI leader A. Radhakrishna to act as co-convener. The forum will consist of two representatives from each political party as well as the victims.