Land Reforms: 16 lakh acres cleared from prohibited list

Amaravati: The state government has reported progress on a sweeping overhaul of the Revenue Department, claiming that it has resolved 244 major land disputes involving more than 41,000 acres, freed 16 lakh acres from the prohibited properties list and introduced technology-based safeguards to protect land records.

The reforms, launched after the NDA coalition government assumed office in June 2024 under Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, are aimed at addressing long-pending disputes, improving the security of ownership records and reducing the burden on citizens dealing with revenue offices.

The repeal of the Land Titling Act was among the government’s first major measures. Under the flagship Mee Bhoomi-Mee Hakku initiative, the government says it has resolved disputes involving land valued at more than Rs 5,000 crore, benefiting over 1.25 lakh families, farmers and industries. The cases covered Tirupati, Nandyal, Guntur, Kuppam, Nellore and other districts. At a recent programme in Prakasam district, issues relating to 3,304 acres were addressed, benefiting 7,981 families.

The government has removed approximately 16 lakh acres from the Section 22-A prohibited properties list across 8,177 resurvey villages, reducing the total extent on the list from 49 lakh acres to 33 lakh acres. It has also initiated measures to extend freehold rights to 10.7 lakh acres of assigned land under G.O. Ms. No. 588. In another change, pattadar passbooks bearing the official State Emblem have replaced the previous format featuring political leaders’ photographs. The government targets distribution of 40.59 lakh passbooks across 9,027 resurvey villages by October 2026, followed by another 51.91 lakh in 7,789 villages by March 2027. The passbooks are being issued after e-KYC verification of landowners.

The government has also removed political images from boundary stones installed during the previous administration. It alleged that more than Rs 650 crore had been spent on engraving the former Chief Minister’s image on around 77 lakh granite stones.

The revenue department has launched a blockchain-based land-record security pilot covering 1,47,484 land parcels across seven mandals. The initiative assigns permanent digital identities to parcels to improve traceability and prevent unauthorised alterations.

The government has also introduced 100 per cent automatic mutation for approximately nine lakh eligible property transactions involving sale, gift and partition deeds. It reported that the rejection rate for mutation applications had fallen from 20 per cent to below 2 per cent. Digitisation of historical records, simplified inheritance registrations and WhatsApp-based services are among the other measures being pursued.

Under the Pedalaku Pattabhishekam programme, nearly 60,000 families in Visakhapatnam, Mangalagiri, Vijayawada and Nellore have received permanent house-site ownership documents for properties estimated to be worth Rs 52,000 crore.

The government says the initiative is intended to provide legal security and improve the economic stability of families who have lived for decades on government land.

Naidu has directed officials to speed up dispute resolution, strengthen digital land governance and improve public access to revenue services. The government maintains that the reforms are intended to make land ownership more secure, reduce opportunities for manipulation of records and improve accountability in the Revenue Department.

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The Hans India