Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy is expected to make a detailed statement tomorrow in the Assembly on land allotments made to private companies under the YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s regime. The chief minister would also promise a mechanism to review these decisions that were allegedly taken to benefit YSR’s family.
The Opposition led by Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had alleged that YSR’s son Jagan Mohan Reddy has been a major beneficiary in several of these controversial land dealings. They have also demanded constitution of a Joint Legislative Committee (JLC) to probe the matter.
Allotment of large chunks of land to some ports, power plants, IT and industrial parks among others during the tenure of the former chief minister had come under the scanner of Kiran Kumar Reddy’s government in the light of mounting attack on Jagan by both the ruling Congress and the TDP.
The Opposition has alleged that some of the land beneficiaries made investments in Jagan’s media venture in return of this. A case related to the wealth and assets of Jagan is also pending before the state High Court.
According to officials, the chief minister is expected to announce a committee to review the previous decisions involving allotment of large parcels of land to these projects with a promise to take back them wherever they were found to be given in violation of law or in excess of what was actually required, or remained unutilised.
Policy on future allotments
Reddy recently said his government would come out with a policy on future land allotments apart from making a thorough exercise on rational requirement of land for various industrial projects. These initiatives are also expect to figure in his statement.
The proposed review would cover land allotments made by IT, Revenue, Housing, Municipal Administration and Industry department among other agencies of the government, according to the officials. State-owned Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) alone had acquired 82,792 acres since 2004, of which it had allotted 47,337 acres to 7,400 projects as on date.
The officials, however, said it might not be possible to take back all such lands as some of them are part of special economic zones notified by the Centre, and some had been privately acquired by companies through consent award.
Moreover, any move to take back the land purchased outright from the government by the companies is expected to create legal problems as there is no explicit provision in the land acquisition Act for such an action, according to revenue officials. The government can take back the land given on lease, as in the case of Caparo, which failed to implement the auto component project in Nellore district, citing delay in utilising the same, officials said.
In the case of Vadarevu and Nizampatnam Port and Industrial Corridor (Vanpic) Private Limited, the entire land of close to 24,000 acres had been allotted by the state government. But, in the case of Kakinada SEZ and Sri City project near Satyavedu in Nellore and Chittoor districts, the promoters of these industrial parks had acquired over 10,000 acres and 5,000 acres respectively from farmers through consent award facilitated by the government. The state had also allotted over 13,000 acres to the Krishnapatnam Port developer. Similarly, about 10,000 acres of land had been acquired from farmers by the Lepakshi Knowledge Hub developer in the backward Anantapur district through consent award.
While there has been some activity at Sri City and Krishnapatnam, the other large projects, including Vanpic and Kakinada SEZ, are yet to take off. GMR had announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Kakinada SEZ when YSR was the chief minister, but it is yet to enter into a concrete agreement with Kakinada Seaports Private Limited, the port company that had acquired 10,000 acres from farmers, official sources said.
TDP’s demand
TDP has been particularly demanding cancellation of allotment of 250 acre made to Brahmani Infotech for developing an IT SEZ near the Rajiv Gandhi international airport along with a similar extent given for the same purpose to Raheja and Indu Projects. It alleges that the transaction was meant to benefit Jagan. Barring Indu Projects, the developers of the other two projects, have not undertaken any construction activity even after four years.
The state government led by YSR in 2005 undertook a similar exercise on land allotments made by his predecessor N Chandrababu Naidu. Except in the case of IMG Bharata, to which the Naidu government had allotted close to 800 acres in Hyderabad, the Group of Ministers appointed for the review of these decisions could not make any headway.
The government is keen on cornering Jagan, who has challenged both the Congress and TDP by launching his own party, on allegations of large-scale corruption at the time his father was the chief minister. However, the TDP’s demand for a JLC may not become a reality.
“If some members loyal to Jagan raise the question as to why land allotments made prior to 2004 are not made part of the terms of reference, then the government faces a difficult situation,” an official said.
