Andhra Pradesh: VMRDA halts illegal plot sales in Vissannapeta village

Visakhapatnam: Visakhapatnam Metro Regional Development Authority (VMRDA) has stopped sale of house plots spread over 610 acres in Vissannapeta village of Kasimkota mandal in Anakapalli district, terming them illegal.

Further, VMRDA has banned publicity of the property. The authority has issued notice to the layout company – Vintage Mount Valley Resorts – asking it to reply within a week’s time.

Promoters of the venture had been selling plots in the Vissannapeta layout in violation of regulations and without obtaining any permission from the government.

VMRDA’s action has come following a complaint by Jana Sena leader and GVMC corporator P.L.N. Murthy Yadav. Incidentally, JS chief Pawan Kalyan, now the Deputy Chief Minister, had visited the huge layout last year and vowed to take action.

Sources say several realtors, some of them linked to the Daspalla landscam, targeted Vissannapeta village in Anakapalli district. They together allegedly grabbed over 600 acres of government, inam, D-patta, hills and gedda poramboke lands. The land is under Survey No. 195/2 within the Bayyavaram village revenue limits. It is 3.5 km from the National Highway 16 and 35 km from Visakhapatnam.

It is said the process of land grabbing began in mid-2021. It stalled in September 2022 after the collector of undivided Visakhapatnam intervened and ordered an inquiry. The last registered document in the layout is in the name of S.R. Gopinath Reddy, the designated partner of Assure Estates and Developers, and Boddeda Prasad, a close confidant of former minister Gudivada Amarnath.

Gopinath and Prasad together acquired 6.55 acres in September 2022. Assure received the contract for developing the layout. Subsequently, they released a brochure for sale of plots in the name of SRVS Constructions and Multi Trade Limited of Anakapalli.

This is when the local media reported threatening of farmers and flattening of mountains in the area. Then district collector of undivided Visakhapatnam took action on the matter. On November 5, 2021, he formed a committee with Anakapalli RDO, the assistant director of mines and geology, Anakapalli, assistant director of survey and land records, and special deputy tahsildar (Inams) as its members.

The VMRDA has now stopped all activity in the area.