Revanth Reddy Government Has Derailed the Revenue System: Harish Rao’s Sharp Criticism

Former minister Harish Rao , who paid a surprise visit to the Siddipet Urban MRO office , launched a scathing attack on the Congress government, alleging that the revenue system has completely gone off track since it came to power. He mocked Congress leaders for claiming they would consign Dharani to the Bay of Bengal and revive the revenue system by introducing Bhu Bharati , saying their “ words cross forts, but their actions do not cross the doorstep .” After interacting with people waiting outside the office for their work and enquiring about their grievances, he addressed the media.

Harish Rao recalled that as part of the implementation of Bhu Bharati, revenue conferences held in villages in April had received 8,68,000 applications statewide . However, he said that even after ten months , the government does not know what happened to those applications or whether they were even registered online. He alleged there was no accountability to the public regarding how many applications had been resolved and questioned whether they had been thrown into dustbins or sold off under piles of old papers.

He stated that during the previous BRS government , when agricultural lands were registered, passbooks along with mutation were delivered directly to farmers’ homes within a week . In contrast, he said that under Bhu Bharati, while Rs 300 is being collected as a passbook fee at the time of registration, passbooks are not being issued even after six months . He claimed that under the KCR government , 6.20 lakh farmers were provided free regularisation of ‘sada bainamas’ and issued passbooks without spending a single rupee, and alleged that the Congress government is deliberately obstructing this process.

Criticising a new rule mandating an affidavit from the person who sold the land for the implementation of ‘sada bainama’, Harish Rao said this had adversely affected lakhs of farmers . He questioned why the seller should provide an affidavit again after selling the land. He alleged that not a single ‘sada bainama’ has been implemented due to this rule, adding that although 2,400 applications in Siddipet Rural and 1,200 in Urban were received, not a single passbook has been issued so far.

He further alleged that the Congress government had increased the extent of prohibited lands from 10 per cent to one crore acres . Despite repeated strictures from the High Court , he said, the list of prohibited lands has not been placed in the public domain, calling it clear evidence of a real estate racket. He also accused the Revanth Reddy government of collecting heavy charges in the name of LRS after promising free LRS while in the Opposition, and demanded compassionate appointments for the families of deceased VROs .