Committed to resolving land-related issues: Telangana CM
Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Friday said that the state government is committed to resolving land-related issues and restoring public trust in the revenue system.
He was speaking at a programme titled ‘Koluvula panduga’, where he presented appointment letters to Gram Panchayat Officers (GPOs).
Launching a scathing attack on the previous BRS government, he said it scrapped the VRO and VRA system to conceal the big land scams. The Chief Minister said that the KCR government portrayed the revenue officials as criminals and thieves to cover their own misdeeds during the 10-year rule.
He alleged that the KCR government launched the Dharani portal and gobbled up costly lands across the state. Unable to find a solution to his land ownership, a fed-up farmer staged a protest at a Revenue department office in Ibrahimpatnam and also set an official on fire by pouring petrol on him, he recalled.
In another instance, a victim threw a Mangalasutra at the officials in Sircilla. The public ire was the result of Dharani ‘virus’ created by the previous rulers and not the officials, the CM said.
Appealing to the newly appointed GPOs to explain the wrongdoings committed by the last government, CM Revanth Reddy said that as promised by the Congress, the people’s government dumped Dharani in the Bay of Bengal and introduced the Bhu Bharati Act to address the grievances of people in a transparent manner.
The CM blamed the BRS rulers for disintegrating the entire revenue system to escape from the law. “Shall we not take action against those responsible for the collapse of Rs 1 lakh crore Kaleshwaram project in just 3 years after construction,” he asked.
The Chief Minister urged the GPOs to play a responsible role in bridging the gap between the government and the poorer sections. The main objective of the appointment of the officers was to solve the problems of the poor. “You are all partners in the formation of the Telangana state and also the People’s Government in the state. You should strive to stop the government from getting a bad image by strictly implementing the Bhu Bharathi Act and solving Sada Bainama land rights.”
The Chief Minister emphasised that the struggles in Telangana’s history—led by figures like Komurambheem, Chakali Ailamma, and Ravi Narayan Reddy—were fundamentally about land rights, and that the State has been a stronghold for movements such as the Bhoodan Movement, where thousands of acres were distributed to the poor.