The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet sub-committee, which met here on Monday to review corruption in the allotment of lands and other properties in the last 10 years of the Congress rule has decided to take steps for resumption of 8,844 acres of land given for the Lepakshi Knowledge Hub project in Anantapur district.
The committee had instructed Anantapur district Collector to submit a report on the present status of the land and resolved to move the court for vacating the stay so as to allot the land to other companies.
‘No development work’The Cabinet sub-committee comprising Ministers Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, K. Srinivas, Y. Achchanaidu and Palle Raghunatha Reddy who reviewed the land allotment found that the company which was given the land in 2008 had not only violated all conditions of allotment, but also had not taken up any development work till 2014.
Bought at throwaway pricesThe land, including 5,000 acres of DKT land and another 3,000 acres was given to the company management at throwaway prices and the company had pledged the land to raise Rs. 800 crore from various banks in violation of conditions, the Cabinet sub-committee noted.
I&PR and IT Minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy told media persons later that the Cabinet sub-committee came to the conclusion that Lepakshi Knowledge Hub company management got the land through quid pro quo process.
The company had handed over the land to other companies clandestinely by keeping the government in the dark, he said.
Finally in February 2014, Kiran Kumar Reddy government had issued a notice for resumption of land, but the company management went to court and secured a stay, he added.
Mr. Raghunatha Reddy said that about one lakh acres of valuable land had been given away in the name of various projects, including Jalayagnam and mining in the last 10 years.
Review of land to Krishnapatnam PortThe sub-committee in its next sitting will review the allotment of 1,000 acres of land to Krishnapatnam Port which had raised Rs.1,100 crore against the land, he said.
