The role of VUDA employees in land scams is being assessed and action will be taken in one or two days.
While it is for the government to initiate action against higher officials, at the lower level it is up to the Vice-Chairman, and action will definitely follow, says Vice-Chairman Kona Sasidhar.
On getting back the land lost/ revenue loss in various fraudulent transactions, the value of which is put at Rs.500 crore, Mr. Sasidhar, who recommended to the government that investigation by an independent agency be ordered, said it was for the agency to suggest means of recovering it. There was a criminal nexus between employees and outsiders, he said. The comprehensive report covered fraudulent land allotments in the name of land-losers in the layouts of VUDA, the construction of an apartment in an open space in Sector II of MVP Colony, and sale at throwaway price in the name of odd bits.
He said special teams would be formed to re-verify the VUDA land bank status and cooperation would be extended to the Vigilance and Enforcement wing that was probing into allotments in an illegal layout in Survey No.127 of Madhurawada.
Mr. Sasidhar assured all those who had purchased land in a transparent manner in auction that they need not worry. But all allotments that were received through fraudulent means by submitting false D-pattas would be verified.
In the next 15 days, all land details of sale, allotment, and encroachment would be put on VUDA website.
The Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister was firm on acting against those involved. It had gone to the notice of the Chief Minister too, Mr. Sasidhar said.
One of the key recommendations in his report was about shifting employees who had been entrenched for decades developing vested interests. On the other hand, VUDA has been facing paucity of staff with 117 vacancies.
Speaking to reporters who met him on Wednesday, Mr. Sasidhar said even as VUDA tackled the fallout of the “unfortunate” incident, it would take steps for transparent functioning and put in place a monitoring mechanism and a file indexing system.
CCTVs would be installed in VUDA office with three months back-up.
Besides, a file indexing system with ultra modern compressor costing Rs.40 lakh and biometric recording would be introduced to prevent information on files leaking out.
