Andhra govt rejects probe into land deals

Andhra Pradesh government on Monday rejected the opposition's demand for an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in allotting land at throw away prices to big industrialists by the previous TDP government.

Revenue minister Dharmana Prasada Rao told the state Assembly that a cabinet sub-committee was reviewing all land deals that took place after January 2003 and "any inquiry at this stage will be redundant".

P Janardhan Reddy (Cong), who posed the main question said that there were large-scale irregularities in acquiring and allotting the land and a high-level inquiry should be ordered into it.

Devender Goud (TDP) said, "Every day a question is being posed by the ruling party resulting in one-sided discussion. To end this trend an inquiry by an independent agency should be set up to find out facts about the land deals."

Md Gafoor (CPM), G Kishen Reddy (BJP) demanded for a House committee probe to get to the core details of the deals while TDP floor leader N Chandrababu Naidu said that the land was allotted in tune with the policy of encouraging IT, tourism and biotechnology.

What are the priorities of this government and will it place a report with comparative data on the development that took place in our state, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Naidu in IT, Naidu asked.

Reiterating that the Congress government was committed for the development of IT, the minister said that any report or inquiry become relevant only after the cabinet sub committee submits its report on the land deals.