CM unveils transparent AP land records system

Nandyal: Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu on Monday distributed new Pattadar Passbooks at a programme titled ‘Mee Bhoomi - Mee Hakku’ to farmers at Kotha Buruzu village in Dhone constituency of Nandyal district. The Chief Minister personally facilitated a couple of villagers to digitally record their thumb impressions.

At a public meeting organised on the occasion, the Chief Minister said the government had adopted a transparent process of conducting land surveys in the presence of farmers before issuing them the passbooks embedded with advanced security features to ensure accuracy and fairness in land records.

Naidu said the state government spent nearly 20 months correcting errors in land records created earlier and has now resumed the process of issuing new Pattadar Passbooks after verifying details through fresh surveys conducted with the consent of farmers.

The Chief Minister alleged that the previous government had weakened the Revenue Department and resorted to serious irregularities in land records. Private lands were wrongly placed under the 22A category, causing hardship to farmers, he said. The Chief Minister criticised the Land Titling Act (brought by the previous government, but repealed by the coalition govt) stating that it would have concentrated control over land ownership in the hands of a few and restricted the right of farmers to appeal against decisions. Naidu recalled that he had promised to repeal the Act at a public meeting in the Panyam constituency and fulfilled that promise soon after assuming office.

Highlighting the role of technology, Naidu said the new passbooks include QR codes and blockchain-based security features to prevent tampering of land records.

He added that the government is distributing the passbooks free of cost to farmers without collecting any fee. According to him, the state has 16,816 villages, but the previous administration conducted surveys in only 6,860 villages and issued nearly 19.93 lakh passbooks with several inaccuracies. Further, he alleged that the previous YSRCP government engaged in several irregularities pertaining to land, which affected nearly two crore acres.

The Chief Minister also spoke about developmental initiatives in Rayalaseema, stating that the government is determined to provide irrigation water to every acre in the region through projects such as Handri–Neeva and other irrigation schemes. He said focus is being laid on horticulture crops to improve farmers’ income and announced subsidies for mango farmers, including financial support when market prices decline. Promising to transform Rayalaseema into a horticulture hub, he said the Centre gave Rs 30,000 crore under the Purvodaya scheme. He said the government is giving a 50 per cent subsidy for covers used to enclose mangoes, noting that they are fetching lucrative prices, rising up to Rs 1.7 lakh per tonne in the international market. He directed officials to encourage crop varieties yielding better profits

Naidu reiterated that the government remains committed to farmers’ welfare, infrastructure development and strengthening of agricultural growth across the state.

Naidu alleged that the previous YSRCP government was filled with "scandals" such as the "liquor scam", Tirupati laddu ghee adulteration and others. Thirty thousand people died from drinking spurious liquor, he added.

The YSRCP leaders are undertaking a "false propaganda" on the CBI-led SIT's report on the Tirupati laddu ghee adulteration case. They are indulging in "counterattacks" to escape, he said. Naidu vowed that he will not spare anybody desecrating Sri Venkateswara Swamy and added that he is “sanitising” issues such as Tirumala laddu adulteration, corruption through liquor, and land encroachment.