Hyderabad: The land survey taken up by the state government has sparked family feuds in villages.
Of the 82.32 lakh pattadars (landowners) existing in the revenue records, 18 lakh have passed away without transferring the property to their heirs.
Now, many of these properties are being claimed by multiple heirs.
While updation of land records and survey is set to commence from September 15, the farmers coordination councils set up in villages are already receiving complaints from family members against according ownership to anyone till the dispute is settled.
NRIs who inherited property in villages and presently staying in the US, Canada, Australia, the UAE etc. too are making calls to council members and revenue officials, asking them not to update records till the land disputes between the family members are resolved. They are also insisting that the survey only be taken up in their presence.
Revenue officials are currently handing over photocopies of Record of Rights (RoR) which officially shows who own the lands, to owners by visiting their houses.
They are also giving new RoR forms and asking them fill in details of any change of ownership so that they can verify this during the survey and issue new pattadar passbooks.
This is fuelling disputes among family members in cases where the land continues to be in the name of their deceased ancestors.
Disputes are cropping of over sharing of property with parents and sibling due to which they are trying to block the land survey.
“This is because land values have increased tremendously over the past decade due to the realty boom. Land that used to fetch less than Rs 50,000 per acre a decade ago in villages now costs in lakhs. With this, even a gunta of land is becoming a bone of contention between family members. As the owners have died without distributing the property to their heirs, everyone is staking claim. Village elders should take the initiative and ensure smooth progress of land survey and land records updation by resolving such issues as the government cannot interfere,” said Deputy CM Mohd. Mahmood Ali, who holds the revenue portfolio.
