The Andhra Pradesh government has been asked to rectify discrepancies in Form 1-B of land records before implementing G.O. M.S. No. 271 of the Revenue Department, said speakers at a meeting of the all-party farmers’ associations here on Sunday.
Speaking about the dangers of G.O. 271, Andhra Pradesh Raithanga Samakhya president Yernani Nagendranath, the force behind the meeting, said that the G.O. said land belonged to only those whose names were in Form 1-B and no other evidence mattered. The rights acquired by the land owners over generations had no value at all. The names of 80 per cent of the land owners were not in Form 1-B, he said.
According to the G.O., land could be sold or purchased merely on the basis of entries in Form 1-B, which was a public document that could be accessed on the Internet. Loans too would be granted on the same basis, Mr. Nagendranath pointed out. Neither the Pattadar Passbook nor the Title Deed was needed in future, he said. Going to the court was not an option as it could take years or even decades for a resolution.
Former Agriculture Minister N. Raghuveera Reddy said that he could not fathom the true objective behind G.O. 271 and warned that it could be the source of many blood feuds in villages. It would definitely lead to law and order problems if the G.O. was implemented without rectifying the discrepancies in Form 1-B. While there was a need for improving the current systems using technology, the impact should be assessed, he said. He suggested that that land records be set in order before upgrading the system.
“Bid to grab lands”
Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary K Ramakrishna said that the G.O. was issued as part of an effort to grab land from farmers. The CPI would not rest until the G.O. was scrapped.
YSR Congress MLC Pilli Subhas Chandra Bose said there had to be some hidden benefit for the State government to push for the G.O. trying to implement it so suddenly and secretly. The fate of land owners would be in the hands of Revenue officials or computer operators. He too demanded that the G.O. should be scrapped.
In a resolution passed at the meeting, the associations demanded that the G.O. be kept on hold until all discrepancies in Form 1-B were rectified. They also decided to stage dharnas in front of every mandal revenue officer on August 3 to highlight their demand.
