The all-party meeting convened by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday on issues relating to encroachment of government lands in and around Hyderabad has failed to make much headway though the government has claimed that all parties have accepted its proposals on regularisation.
Speaking to newspersons after the meeting, representatives of Congress, TDP, MIM, CPI, CPI (M) and YSR Congress, however, stated that they have agreed only on regularisation of land up to 125 square yards free of cost to the poor, who have constructed houses and are residing there. Metro Rail, cleaning up of Hussainsagar lake, construction of Vinayaksagar and others were also raised by some parties, though they were not listed in the agenda.
The Chief Minister said at the meeting that mobilising funds by regularising the encroached lands was not the government policy. The issue was taken up only with an aim to improve the brand image of Hyderabad by putting a permanent end to land disputes. Though the government would be generous in providing permanent shelter to the poor, it would be hard on land-grabbers, he reiterated.
Mr. Rao has proposed regularisation of 125 square yards of land free of cost to the poor residents, 250 to 300 square yards land at nominal cost to the middle class people residing there, up to 500 square yards to others living on the land by increasing the land cost for every 100 square yards and regularising lands beyond 500 square yards with houses and other permanent structures constructed on them at very high cost.
CommitteesFurther, the Chief Minister proposed that the government would resume empty (vacant) lands and construction of multi-storeyed apartments by pooling up those living on 15 to 50 square yards land. He suggested formation of committees with legislators and officials to decide the encroachers into six categories and assured that local legislators would be taken into confidence while regularising the lands.
M. Bhatti Vikramarka and G.D. Niranjan (Congress), E. Dayakar Rao and L. Ramana (TDP), Ahmed Bin Abdullah Balala and Syed Amin Jaffri (MIM), Ch. Venkat Reddy and R. Ravindra Kumar (CPI), T. Veerabhadram and S. Rajaiah (CPI-M) and Shiva Kumar (YSR Congress) said no decision was taken in case of encroachments beyond 125 square yards due to lack of adequate information.
G. Kishan Reddy and K. Laxman (BJP), several ministers, senior officers and officials of Metro Rail and GHMC also participated.
