Telugu producer eyeing government land in Nizamabad

NIZAMABAD: Though there is no government land available in the district to construct model schools and distribute to the landless poor under the proposed sixth phase of land distribution programme, the district administration is seriously making efforts to hand over valuable land to private persons on the pretext of promoting tourism. 

With a view to grabbing government land at cheaper rates in the name of lease agreements, senior political leaders of the ruling party and influential persons are leaving no stone unturned to bring pressure on the district administration to hand over precious land. Senior revenue officials told TOI that top Telugu film producer `Dil' Raju is moving heaven and earth to get his multiplex constructed in the heart of the town. The producer is said to be pulling strings to lay his hands on four acres of land belonging to the irrigation department. 

The land, which costs Rs 1 crore per acre, is located in front of the district collectorate in the heart of the town and Raju is sparing no efforts to bag the coveted site for his multiplex project. When local MLA Yendala Laxminarayana raised the issue in the recent district review committee (DRC) meeting, collector D Varaprasad admitted having received an application from the government and added that the request was under consideration. 

Former speaker K R Suresh Reddy also submitted an application for six acres of land near Sri Ram Sagar Project (SRSP), revenue sources said. Suresh Reddy, a close aide of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, is planning to develop a tourist resort in a village near the SRSP project site, sources said. This land costs about Rs 10 lakh per acre and the location is hardly 50 km from the district headquarters. 

Laxminarayana said: "There is no question of allowing the district administration to hand over precious irrigation land for a multiplex and tourism resort. We will not hesitate to agitate if the administration does not drop its proposal." 

A district-level officer on condition of anonymity told TOI that senior Congress leader and MLC D Srinivas was brining pressure on the district administration to allot land to the film producer. 

"It is unfortunate that the ruling party legislators want us to hand over valuable land to private persons at a time when we are struggling to find land for building schools," he said. 

Joint collector K Harshavardhan said that there was no government land in Bodhan and Nizamabad divisions to construct model schools, sanctioned for each mandal. 

"We are planning to buy land from private persons and build model schools," he told TOI. He said that they had already brought to the notice of the chief commissioner of land administration (CCLA) how there was shortage of land for distribution under the sixth phase of the land distribution scheme. 

Shockingly, some of the beneficiaries were allocated land on hillocks and non-cultivable areas in the fifth phase of land distribution scheme as there was no government land. 

When contacted, district revenue officer P Jagadishwarachary tried to skirt the issue. He merely said that they had not received any application for land lease from Raju or Suresh Reddy till now. 

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