Land 'scam' hits AP capital dev authority, CM seeks report

The Andhra Pradesh Capital Region Development Authority has been hit by a "land scam", as 1,450 sq yards of returnable plots were registered in a man's name for an acre of non-existent land he was supposed to have given for building the state capital, an official said today.
According to the official, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has taken a serious view of the alleged land scam and and directed the AP Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) authorities to submit a report within three days.
"The registered plots (2x500 sq yds residential and 1x450 sq yds commercial) are said to be worth Rs 4.50 crore as per the prevailing market value in the region. The man was supposed to have given the land under the state's land pooling scheme for the capital city- Amaravati," the official said.

"The chief minister directed the CRDA authorities to furnish a report in three days and take stern criminal action against the guilty," a senior official said.
The episode, the CRDA claims, is the handiwork of a computer operator.
CRDA Commissioner Ch Sreedhar said in a statement that a police complaint has been lodged into the episode and criminal action against those involved in the scandal was sought.

"We have ordered an inquiry into the scandal and appointed CRDA Additional Commissioner S Shanmohan as the probe officer. We will get the inquiry report soon and criminal action will be initiated against the guilty. We have already ordered revocation of the land registration," the Commissioner said in a statement this evening.

The Andhra Pradesh government, through the CRDA, "pooled" over 33,000 acres of land in 2015 for building the state's new capital city Amaravati.
For every acre of wet land taken from the farmers, the government returned 1,000 sq yds of residential and 450 sq yds of commercial plots and promised to develop all infrastructure in the layouts.
There have been many allegations in the last two years related to discrepancies in the land pooling and allocation of returnable plots to many ineligible "beneficiaries".
In this land scam, one Pathan Ghouse Khan got 1,450 sq yds of returnable plots registered in his name, claiming he had surrendered one acre of his wet land in Mandadam village, the official said.

Upon getting the plots registered in his name, Khan sold away the 450 sq yds of commercial plot in November last year. However, Mandadam villagers grew suspicious when Khan tried to sell the residential plots as well and dug out the details, the official added.
It then came to light that the one acre that Khan claimed to be his land was in fact a submerged portion in river Krishna and belonged to none.
"We have discovered four days ago that the online computer records were tampered, though the said land was not in the official records. The process that was to be done in 30 days was completed in a span of three hours and we found the computer operator responsible for this. We have ordered criminal action against him," the CRDA Commissioner said.

He said the role of deputy collector, deputy tahsildar or competent authority, if any, would come out in the inquiry and action would be initiated against the guilty.