Crackdown on land grabbers in Andole

​Andole (Medak): In order to take back 188 acres of assigned lands which were being illegally cultivated by outsiders, the Revenue department has decided to take up a survey and handover those lands to the rightful owners. If the lands found do not have owners, then they would taken by the revenue department.

It may be recalled that The Hans India, on July 23, had published a story titled ‘Dalit farmers raise voice against land usurpers.’ The story highlighted the issue of more than 160 acres of land assigned to farmers from weaker sections, which had somehow been occupied and being cultivated by some local farmers and outsiders. The assigned government lands fell under Survey numbers 638, 637 and 636 of Chintakunta village in Andole mandal.

On Thursday, 40-45 revenue officials from Andole-Jogipet, including Mandal Revenue Officer, Village Revenue Officers, VRAs and village servants, along with 25 policemen from Jogipet, Tekmal and Alladurg police stations took control of all the assigned lands and started surveying them to ascertain the rightful owners of those lands.

Village servants further harvested the red gram crop in Chintakunta, which was being cultivated by one Ramulu from the same village who was alleged to have occupied almost 60 acres of land in the village by wrongful means. The revenue officials seized the entire harvest until the rightful owners of the properties were found.

Ramulu said that he owned only 8 acres (four in his name and four in his wife’s name). However, he claimed that he had sale deeds for all the properties and that he was able to secure two loans from banks showing those properties. He also said a vermicompost unit worth Rs 5 lakh was sanctioned by the Horticulture department recently and that he had dug up six borewells in the lands.

Meanwhile, the villagers claimed that he had illegally occupied lands of beneficiaries and even produced documents with the help of some corrupt revenue officials in the past. Andole MRO Nageshwar Rao made it clear that assigned lands could neither be sold nor could be purchased by anybody.

He said once the survey was completed, the report would be sent to the District Collector and based on directions from higher officials, further action would be initiated. Further, the officials told victimised farmers that nobody would continue farming in the disputed lands this kharif season and that whatever crop was harvested in the coming weeks would have to be deposited with the revenue officials.